BREAKING NEWS: Design

Importance of choosing the right geyser and water heater for your home

Sat, 21 Dec 2024 11:21:27 +0000

Hot water is essential in every household. It serves purposes ranging from daily hygiene to cleaning and cooking. A reliable water heater or geyser ensures ...

The post Importance of choosing the right geyser and water heater for your home appeared first on Industry Standard Design.

‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’ became a holiday classic against all odds

Sat, 21 Dec 2024 10:00:00 +0000

It’s hard to imagine a holiday season without A Charlie Brown Christmas. The 1965 broadcast has become a staple—etched into traditions across generations like decorating the tree or sipping hot cocoa.

But this beloved TV special almost didn’t make it to air. CBS executives thought the 25-minute program was too slow, too serious and too different from the upbeat spectacles they imagined audiences wanted. A cartoon about a depressed kid seeking psychiatric advice? No laugh track? Humble, lo-fi animation? And was that a Bible verse? It seemed destined to fail—if not scrapped outright.

And yet, against all the odds, it became a classic. The program turned Peanuts from a popular comic strip into a multimedia empire—not because it was flashy or followed the rules, but because it was sincere.

As a business professor who has studied the Peanuts franchise, I see A Charlie Brown Christmas as a fascinating historical moment. It’s the true story of an unassuming comic strip character who crossed over into television and managed to voice hefty, thought-provoking ideas—without getting booted off the air.

Call from the blue

The Peanuts special came together out of a last-minute scramble. Somewhat out of the blue, producer Lee Mendelson got a call from advertising agency McCann-Erickson: Coca-Cola wanted to sponsor an animated Christmas special.

Mendelson had previously failed to convince the agency to sponsor a Peanuts documentary. This time, though, he assured McCann-Erickson that the characters would be a perfect fit.

Mendelson called up Peanuts comic strip creator Charles “Sparky” Schulz and told him he had just sold A Charlie Brown Christmas—and they would have mere months to write, animate and bring the special to air.

Charles Schulz drawing in the 1950s. [Photo: Roger Higgins/World Telegram & Sun via Library of Congress]

Schulz, Mendelson and animator Bill Melendez worked fast to piece together a storyline. The cartoonist wanted to tell a story that cut through the glitz of holiday commercialism and brought the focus back to something deeper.

While Snoopy tries to win a Christmas lights contest, and Lucy names herself “Christmas queen” in the neighborhood play, a forlorn Charlie Brown searches for “the real meaning of Christmas.” He makes his way to the local lot of aluminum trees, a fad at the time. But he’s drawn to the one real tree—a humble, scraggly little thing—inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale “The Fir Tree.”

Jazz—and the Bible

Those plot points would likely delight the network, but other choices Schulz made were proving controversial.

The show would use real children’s voices instead of adult actors’, giving the characters an authentic, simple charm. And Schulz refused to add a laugh track, a standard in animated TV at the time. He wanted the sincerity of the story to stand on its own, without artificial prompts for laughter.

Meanwhile, Mendelson brought in jazz musician Vince Guaraldi to compose a sophisticated soundtrack. The music was unlike anything typically heard in animated programming, blending provocative depth with the innocence of childhood.

Most alarming to the executives was Schulz’s insistence on including the heart of the Nativity story in arguably the special’s most pivotal scene.

When Charlie Brown joyfully returns to his friends with the spindly little tree, the rest of the Peanuts gang ridicule his choice. “I guess I really don’t know what Christmas is all about,” the utterly defeated Charlie Brown sighs.

Gently but confidently, Linus assures him, “I can tell you what Christmas is all about.” Calling for “Lights, please,” he quietly walks to the center of the stage.

In the stillness, Linus recites the Gospel of Luke, Chapter 2, with its story of an angel appearing to trembling shepherds:

And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a savior, which is Christ the Lord.

“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men,” he concludes, picking up his security blanket and walking into the wings. The rest of the gang soon concludes Charlie Brown’s scrawny tree isn’t so bad, after all—it just “needs a little love.”

When Schulz discussed this idea with Mendelson and Melendez, they were hesitant. For much of U.S. history, Protestant Christianity was the default in American culture, but in the years since World War II, society had grown somewhat more mindful of making room for Catholic and Jewish Americans. Unsure how to handle the shifting norms, many mainstream entertainment companies in the 1960s tended to avoid religious topics.

“The Bible thing scares us,” CBS executives said when they saw the proofs of the special. But there was simply no time to redo the entire dramatic arc of the special, and pulling it was not an option, given that advertisements had already run.

Fun and philosophy

Fortunately for the Peanuts franchise, when the special aired on December 9, 1965, it was an instant success. Nearly half of American households tuned in, and the program won both an Emmy and a Peabody Award. Schulz had tapped into something audiences were craving: an honest, heartfelt message that cut through the commercialism.

Millions of viewers have continued to tune in to the show’s annual rebroadcast for over 50 years on CBS and then ABC—and now Apple TV+.

When I was researching my spiritual biography of Schulz, A Charlie Brown Religion, one of my favorite finds was a 1965 letter from a Florida viewer, Betty Knorr. She praised the show for stressing “the true meaning of the Christmas season” at a time when “the mention of God in general (is) being hush hushed.”

The magic of Schulz’s work, though, is that it resonates across demographics and ideologies. Some fans find comfort in the show’s gentle message of faith, while others embrace it in a purely secular way.

Simple but poignant, Schulz’s art and gentle humor can do two things. They can act as safe entry points for some pretty hefty thoughts—be they psychiatric, cultural or theological. Or Peanuts cartoons can simply be heartwarming, festive entertainment, if that’s what you want.

Today, both the Peanuts empire and the Christmas industry are thriving. Back in the 1960s, commercial realities almost derailed Schulz’s special, yet those same forces ultimately ensured its broadcast. The result is a lasting touchstone of innocence, hope, and belief.

Stephen Lind is an associate professor of clinical business communication at the University of Southern California.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

5 expert hacks to ease air travel this holiday season

Sat, 21 Dec 2024 10:00:00 +0000

It’s safe to say that air travel—especially holiday air travel—is back.

According to online travel agency Hopper, more than 32 million people are currently scheduled to depart from U.S. airports between December 23 and New Year’s Day—a 2.4% increase compared to this time last year. Deloitte, too, is finding that the average number of trips is rising, with 33% of Americans planning a trip that is a week or longer, versus 25% in 2023.

Hopper just published a deep dive on what to expect from holiday travel this year. A few key takeaways? If you haven’t purchased tickets yet, get on it. Last-minute domestic airfare for Christmas is averaging $371 per round-trip ticket, up 8% from last year. “Prices have risen 10% in the last five weeks, rising by $35 on average, and are set to spike as the holidays draw closer,” writes Hayley Berg, lead economist and travel expert at Hopper.

All that is to say—airports are going to be crowded. So Fast Company has turned to travel experts—from flight attendants to hotel executives—for tips on navigating packed airports, delayed flights, and more.

1. You can fast-track customs

If you’re traveling internationally, customs is often the first hurdle after deplaning. “During peak season, the wait at customs can be more than an hour long,” says Henley Vazquez, CEO and cofounder of Fora Travel. “Using the customs concierge service to expedite the process is a worthy splurge.”

The service is available through some luxury hotels—Vazquez says both the Ritz Paris and La Reserve Paris offer the service to fast-track travelers through customs and get them to and from the airport. She recommends checking if your hotel offers the service, as it might make a room upgrade worth the money.

Outside of hotels, there are companies—including Global Airport Concierge and Royal Airport Concierge—that offer a fast-track customs experience as part of their VIP airport offerings.

[Photo: simonkr/Getty Images]

2. Major airports can be closer to each other than you think

Hopper’s Berg says big hub airports like Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International, Dallas-Fort Worth International, and Denver International will be the busiest this holiday season—and they had the highest disruption rates this past October. Some potentially good news: If you’re scheduled to fly from a major city and your flight gets canceled, it’s still possible to travel from an alternate airport. If you’re stuck at O’Hare, for example, Midway could have a flight that’s on time. “If you’re stranded in cities like New York, Chicago, and Dallas, your ticket home may be just a train or Uber ride away,” Vazquez says.

2. Know what you’re getting into

Nigel Goode, chairman of London-based design firm PriestmanGoode, has been working with advocacy group Air4All to make air travel more convenient and less stressful for people in wheelchairs. The firm’s first-of-its kind airplane seat, expected to be installed in select airplanes next year, will allow customers to remain in their own wheelchairs for the entire journey. The process has taught him that it’s critical for travelers, not just those with mobility constraints, to plan each stage of the journey before heading to the airport. “The more you find out beforehand, the less anxiety there will be on the day,” Goode says.

3. Essentials should be easily accessible

Paige Davis, president of AdventureWomen—a travel outfitter with more than 60 trips planned for 2025—always flies with a small, easily accessible pouch at the top of her carry-on. In it, she packs earplugs, an eye mask, a pair of comfortable headphones, and a USB cable to keep devices charged. “I’ll also toss in a mini tube of lip balm and hand sanitizer, because comfort and hygiene at 30,000 feet are a must.”

[Photo: Getty Images]

4. The airport can be a destination, too

Few know the highs and lows of plane travel better than flight attendants like Renae Grady with Alaska Airlines. Given the amount of time she spends in airports, she says she’s learned to enjoy them. She suggests holiday travelers try to think about the airport as a destination on its own.

“Allow extra time for your trip so you can relax with a good book or noise-canceling headphones and a great playlist,” she says. It can make the overall airport experience more enjoyable for everyone, travelers and airline workers alike, when passengers are more relaxed. “Patience and kindness during this busy travel period can really make someone’s day,” Grady says.

Drew Richardson, president and CEO of PADI Worldwide, embraces a slower approach to holiday travel. “My advice is to adopt an ‘ABC mindset’ when traveling. In other words, always be chill. Part of the charm of travel can be the unexpected. Adjust your expectations situationally, be aware of your emotions in the present, and enjoy the experience,” he says.

5. Or you can avoid it entirely

Patrick Goddard, president of train operator Brightline, may be biased , but he believes the ease of getting on a train versus a plane is worth the trade-off in travel time.

[Photo: Kohei Hara/Getty Images]

Passengers get through security faster, keep their bags with them, and—in the case of Brightline’s in-route experience—have charging stations at every seat and free Wi-Fi.

Amtrak will have a fleet of new trains running between Washington, D.C., and Boston launching in the spring. Along with USB plugs and winged head rests, the trains will offer 25% more capacity. They’re also quieter and faster than ever, running at up to 160 miles an hour.

And if travel in general makes you queasy, staying home is always an option to save up for travel when airports will less busy. “The best time to travel is during the shoulder season,” AdventureWoman’s Davis says. “The airports are less chaotic, cities breathe easier, and popular attractions aren’t overrun with selfie sticks.”

Bonus: Overbooking is your enemy

Avoid filling your travel calendar to the brim, advises Fora Travel’s Vazquez. “This can be tempting, especially if you’re exploring a new destination or this is your one big trip a year.” Try to set aside some time for true relaxation instead, she suggests, whether that means booking a full spa day or simply giving the alarm clock a rest. “The last thing you want to do is return home on January 2 even more tired than when you left.”

This Bathroom Makeover Fakes the Look of Expensive Wallpaper with a $50 Hack

Fri, 20 Dec 2024 23:00:00 +0000

A “scary” bathroom transformed into a colorful stunner thanks to budget-friendly DIYs. READ MORE...

These Popular Keepsake Mason Jars Are the Cutest I’ve Ever Seen

Fri, 20 Dec 2024 22:30:00 +0000

More than 2,000 were sold last month! READ MORE...

The 3-Ingredient Sauce That’s Good on Everything

Fri, 20 Dec 2024 21:30:00 +0000

It goes with everything. READ MORE...

I Can’t Imagine Winter Gatherings Without These Cozy Outdoor Throws (I Gift Them to Everyone!)

Fri, 20 Dec 2024 21:20:00 +0000

Just pure, snuggly joy. READ MORE...

This Decluttered Entryway Redo Is the Prettiest Garage Setup I’ve Ever Seen

Fri, 20 Dec 2024 21:00:00 +0000

There’s a place for everything! READ MORE...

How To Make Christmas Tree Bows

Fri, 20 Dec 2024 20:41:58 +0000

This year, I decided to take a completely different approach to decorating my Christmas tree—no traditional ornaments, no same-old, same-old baubles. Instead, I went all-in on a trendy idea I stumbled upon: decorating with a big, beautiful bow! Lucky for me, I already had a long strip of pink tulle at home—a leftover from making my daughter’s skirt. Talk about a budget-friendly win! The result? A dreamy, pink-toned Christmas tree that feels delicate and airy. But, oh, the drama at home! My son wasn’t thrilled about the “girly” theme and declared the tree too feminine. Thankfully, my daughter was all for it, so we struck a deal—I promised him next year’s tree would have a boyish vibe. With that compromise sorted, I dove headfirst into this pink bow adventure. The Game Plan for Bow-Magic Make a stunning oversized bow. Craft lots of smaller bows for balance. Spruce up the tree base. Add those finishing touches around the tree. How To Make The Show-Stopping Big Bow For the centerpiece, I used tulle—a...

The post How To Make Christmas Tree Bows appeared first on Shelterness.

24 Room Divider Ideas to Give Your Space More Function

Fri, 20 Dec 2024 20:30:00 +0000

Create more spaces with one of these genius room divider ideas. READ MORE...

HomeGoods Is Bringing Back This 175-Year-Old Decor Trend for the Holidays

Fri, 20 Dec 2024 20:30:00 +0000

“The plates are stunners!” one shopper wrote. READ MORE...

Nate Berkus’ Holiday Decor Storage Solution Is So Good, You’ll Want to Copy It

Fri, 20 Dec 2024 20:15:00 +0000

Triple Virgo energy at its peak. READ MORE...

The Controversial Design Style That's Out for 2025, According to Designers

Fri, 20 Dec 2024 19:30:00 +0000

Even its staunchest devotees seem to be giving up on it. READ MORE...

The 10 Best Kitchen Makeovers of 2024 Will Totally Wow You

Fri, 20 Dec 2024 19:00:00 +0000

They range from budget-savvy refreshes to total transformations — and all are stunning. READ MORE...

This "Cute" TikTok-Viral Vanity Is Perfect for My Tiny Studio

Fri, 20 Dec 2024 18:00:00 +0000

It's also over 60% off right now. READ MORE...

My Washable Rug Is Too Big for My Washing Machine — Here’s How I Clean It

Fri, 20 Dec 2024 17:30:00 +0000

Problem solved. READ MORE...

This Downtown High-Rise Was “Dated and Dull,” but Now Has Lots of Personality

Fri, 20 Dec 2024 17:00:00 +0000

Living downtown in a high-rise has always been a dream of designer Lauren Ashley. Before she moved in, this apartment was dated and dull — but now it’s inviting and full of color and personality, and tells a story. READ MORE...

5 Best Small Living Room Layouts for Making the Most of Your Space

Fri, 20 Dec 2024 16:30:00 +0000

Plus, how to handle common layout issues. READ MORE...

Standout Food, Drink & Kitchen-Related Designs Spotted in 2024

Fri, 20 Dec 2024 16:24:58 +0000

Sure, our food supply has been poisoned by large corporations, and we're hooked on sugary drinks that make us sick. Can design help? Maybe—or we can just stay in our lane and design more stuff for you to buy! Shiny shiny! Here are the food, drink and kitchen-related designs that jumped out at us in 2024.

Möbino, by Metaform Architects, is a beautiful espresso cup made by combining digital fabrication with handwork.

When bad UX is the point: This no-handle coffee mug, by British design collective Ma3t, was designed for rock climbers.

NASA's zero-gravity drinking cup was prototyped in space.

A fine example of form follows function: These stange glasses for Kölsch beer.

A vice-friendly design classic: Joe Colombo's Smoke Glasses.

Another industrial design classic is Spanish industrial designer Rafael Marquina's no-drip oil cruet.

Italian industrial designer Corrado Dotti designed these elegant, double-walled Cilindro oil cruets, which appear to float.

This stunning, minimalist glass bottle is by RISD grad Peter Ivy.

Old-school package design: Japanese bamboo spice vessels.

These Vök serving trays, by industrial designer Dögg Guðmundsdóttir, were inspired by the Icelandic environment.

An eye-catching design detail: The knurled Buster + Punch handles on this Staub cookware.

Cloche, by industrial designer Guillaume Bloget, is a low-tech, designey food smoker.

Also low-tech and involving flame is this Bola Grill Master, a design for a barbecue grill with height-adjustable cooking surfaces.

The Tibetus Technical Bridge-Console, by Italian brand Snaidero, is an overhead rail system for kitchen islands.

If you're obsessive about your toast, perhaps Mitsubishi Electric's sealed, insulated $270-$500 single-slice toaster is for you.

There are a lot of surprisingly innovative design features in this 1963 GE refrigerator.

From Japan, this Mirable Kitchen is faucet can clean dirty dishes without soap, using micro-bubbles.

From China, Boelon's hi-tech "luxury" kitchen sink has some crazy features.

In the UK, Costa Coffee has rolled out an autonomous, small-footprint 24-hour coffee shop in kiosk form.

Back in America, SeaWorld has been selling burgers where the cheese comes in syringes. (Next step is we inject it directly into our bodies.)

A collaboration between Serve Robotics and Wing Aviation combines robots with drones for food delivery.

UK Supermarket chain Tesco's laser-etched avocados save on packaging waste.

Always wanted to disaster prep, don't know where to start? Costco sells these 150-serving emergency meal buckets.

Lastly, Unnecessary Design Studio has created this object to harvest burrito waste for taco fillings.

Target’s 17th Century-Inspired Find Is Perfect for a Classy New Year’s Eve In

Fri, 20 Dec 2024 16:15:00 +0000

They come in the prettiest vintage-inspired colors. READ MORE...

This "Ingenious" Organizer Instantly Doubled My Tiny Bathroom's Storage

Fri, 20 Dec 2024 16:15:00 +0000

The best part? It's adjustable! READ MORE...

10 Tips And 37 Ideas To Make Ceilings Look Higher

Fri, 20 Dec 2024 15:30:51 +0000

Whether you are styling a room with low ceilings or even a basement, you might use some tips that will help you make the room look taller. Walls And Ceilings Opt For A Single Color One continuous shade will create a feeling or flow and will make your space look larger, if you use the color from floor to ceiling. This color can be white as it’s very serene and beautiful and will also reflect the light creating an illusion of not only height but also larger space. Avoid creating any horizontal boundaries and lines on the whole, they will visually shorten the room, this goes, first of all, to the molding.

The post 10 Tips And 37 Ideas To Make Ceilings Look Higher appeared first on Shelterness.

Why You Should Always Keep a Paper Towel Holder Under Your Sink

Fri, 20 Dec 2024 15:15:00 +0000

It’s so smart! READ MORE...

The Best Editor-Tested Office Chairs You Can Buy Right Now

Fri, 20 Dec 2024 15:15:00 +0000

Don't underestimate the importance of a comfortable workspace. READ MORE...

10 Deals You Can't Afford to Miss From Pottery Barn's Huge End-of-Year Sale

Fri, 20 Dec 2024 15:00:00 +0000

Head into the new year with a refreshed space. READ MORE...

I Tried Thrifting All My Christmas Presents This Year — And Spent Less Than $100

Fri, 20 Dec 2024 14:30:00 +0000

My favorite find was just $6. READ MORE...

From Beyoncé’s boots to Trump’s ear bandage: 12 objects that defined 2024

Fri, 20 Dec 2024 11:30:00 +0000

Throughout 2024, it often felt hard to keep one’s bearings: Is the presidential campaign now a permanent state of being? Are Tesla robots and Apple headsets really going to be a thing? Is that a drone up there? There are many ways to grapple with these questions. But once again, I’ve set out to perform the annual ritual of assessing and unpacking the year gone by through the objects that captured our attention. Here, then, is the year in objects—the good, the unsettling, and the hard to explain.

[Photo: Levi’s]

Healthcare-assassin gear

It would be difficult to invent a scenario more suited to a modern media fever: the cold-blooded murder of a health-insurance executive in midtown Manhattan, sparking a frenzied manhunt. With only glimpses of visual evidence, real and amateur sleuths alike fixated on a few material details, notably the killer’s hooded jacket and backpack. In a late-stage-capitalism twist, many decided that these were rather stylish. The internet concluded that the jacket was a Levi’s “Sherpa Lined Two Pocket Hooded Trucker Jacket.” And while the shooter seemed to unexpectedly attain folk hero status (with pro-shooter merch popping up on Amazon and elsewhere), people were busy snapping up that jacket: 700 of them reportedly sold via Macy’s site in 48 hours.

The backpack also was swiftly identified as a Peak Design model, priced at around $280 in its current iteration. The killer evidently ditched it in Central Park (leaving some Monopoly money inside). For Peak, this macabre branding event surely brought new name recognition—but in yet another startling turn, this was followed by accusations that its CEO was a “rat” and a “snitch,” accompanied by threats against him and his employees for cooperating with law enforcement. He has denied compromising the privacy of an alleged killer, or any of his customers.

[Photo: Owala]

Owala water bottle

Not so long ago, the Stanley Tumbler seemed invincible in its domination of stylish hydration. But this year, as Fast Company’s Elizabeth Segran reported, competition in the $9.3 billion reusable water bottle sector reached new heights, with rival Owala establishing itself as the It Bottle of the moment. Its most notable feature is what it calls FreeSip design, meant to make it easier to sip through a straw when you’re taking it easy, or guzzle when you’re parched. The feature won positive reviews.

Functionality aside, Owala relied on bold color combinations in uncommon (odd?) patterns, consistent with the modern water bottle’s role as de facto fashion accessory. Fans not only liked the more idiosyncratic combos (even creating their own by swapping lids, much to the consternation of retailers), but embraced the eye-catching and lit markers worth bragging about on social media. As one fan put it in an Instagram post, lingering over the color selection in a Sam’s Club location: “Talk about a THIRST trap.”

[Photo: Apple]

Apple Vision Pro headset

The Apple Vision Pro mixed reality headset (or “spatial computer,” as the company calls it) made its debut early this year, but feels like it’s been around a lot longer. That lengthy hype ramp—hands-on reports started in 2023—may have worked against it. Widely touted as Apple’s most significant new product since the iPhone, the Vision Pro received mixed reviews: heavy, with limited practical use, and priced at an aggressive $3,500. By midyear, sales forecasts were trending to the low end of an initial 400,000 to 800,000 units shipping expectation, with later reports that Apple was scaling back production and may stop selling its current version altogether next year.

Then again, maybe sales weren’t really the point. Apple repeatedly emphasized that this was a first step into the category. So it’s probably more fair to consider it in the context of device-as-marketing, designed more for attention than actual sales—kind of like Meta touting its latest stab at a “glasses” product, which isn’t even on the market yet. The function of the Vision Pro is to demonstrate that Apple is participating in the future. And with 2024 proving another successful year for its actual product lines, it can clearly afford to do so.

[Collage: FC]

Elaborate popcorn buckets

Seeing a movie on the big screen is all about the experience—living room recliner seats, giant-size concessions, enthusiastic audiences. Or maybe it’s about the popcorn bucket. Because this year, the once-humble container became an unlikely source of ballyhooed industrial design with a $50 price tag, Fast Company’s Grace Snelling reported. Thanks in large part to the viral frenzy around the novelty bucket—er, “collectible concession vessel”—promoting Dune: Part Two, presumably resembling a sandworm’s maw. There have been earlier container incarnations (plastic R2D2 bucket, Barbie bucket), but none were featured on Saturday Night Live as a teenager’s unlikely sex toy (its own song included). A similarly saucy social media pile on about the Dune bucket may not have been what the film’s marketers had in mind.

The attention ignited a concessions-vessel arms race—a key promo tool for, say, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice and Inside Out 2. And since the designs are exclusive to the movie theater chains, that could mean different Deadpool & Wolverine buckets at Cinemark, Regal, and AMC. Theaters, which have long depended on pricey concessions as a profit center, love the trend, offering various items to moviegoers eager to go viral with the latest show-off container. Maybe this is what the moviegoing experience needed all along: a pricey, if odd, souvenir.

[Photo: Peter Parks/AFP/Getty Images]

Trump’s ear bandage

The 2016 Trump campaign’s red Make America Great Again baseball caps were surely one of the most effective group-signaling symbols in modern political history—an “I Like Ike” button for the 21^st century. Which makes it all the more remarkable that, as Fast Company’s Mark Wilson pointed out, the GOP found a new way to win the symbolic-image race again, just as MAGA hats were getting stale: The most striking visual aid at the Republican National Convention launching Trump’s third presidential run: the sea of white cotton bandages taped over attendees’ ear.

This homage to Trump, seemingly wearing a real bandage on his ear at the RNC only days after a would-be assassin’s bullet reportedly grazed him, was mocked by Democrats as embarrassing fealty. Supporters saw it as a material tribute to the courage of their candidate. So the mockery only added fuel to a political movement whose brand turned on the idea of being under attack, and passionately defiant. That message, of course, proved a winning one.

[Photo: Tesla]

Tesla robots

Sometimes it seems like the only thing that can wrest attention away from Elon Musk is more Elon Musk. Case in point: At an event designed to hype Tesla’s Cybercab and Robovan, the planned autonomous vehicles were overshadowed by the presence of robots mingling with guests and even tending bar. These Tesla Optimus humanoid robots are designed to do certain factory work.

Musk had predicted they would be ready for deployment this year, but the technology (which competes with humanoid robot projects from Hyundai, Honda, and others) remains in development. And while the robot bartender got lots of buzz, it was a head fake: the robots at the event were being remote-controlled by actual humans. Humanoid robotic coworkers may indeed become a thing, but we’re not there yet. For now, we’ll have to settle for one learning from Kim Kardashian how to blow a kiss.

[Photo: Costco]

Costco gold bars

Costco has long been known for its $1.50 food-court hot dogs. This year, the brand got almost as much attention for selling actual gold bars, at $2,000 an ounce or more. Most of the sales were online, but Costco shoppers have been adding the gold to their in-person treasure hunts at the discount-club retailer, which is more often associated with bargains on consumer staples like toilet paper and eggs.

As unlikely an addition to the shopping cart as gold may be, Wells Fargo estimated that Costco gold sales were clocking in at between $100 million and $200 million a month. As spot gold prices climbed past $2,700 an ounce in October, many outlets that carried the bars were reportedly sold out. But the chain has only continued to mine this unlikely new revenue vein, adding platinum bars to the mix, at a little more than $1,000 an ounce. As an actual investment, most finance pros would probably say you could do better. But perhaps in uncertain economic times, there’s comforting value in a shiny object.

[Photo: Blair Caldwell/Parkwood Entertainment LLC.]

Beyoncé’s cowboy boots

Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter was a major musical event—and one of the year’s notable fashion and style moments. The pop superstar’s experiments with country music (and beyond) were accompanied by spikes of interest, and sales, in Western clothes and accessories. Boot sales got a bump following the release of the advance single “Texas Hold ’Em,” and kicked up 20% in the week after the album’s release, according to CNBC, boosting foot traffic for retailers like Boot Barn.

Beyoncé’s creative take on the Western aesthetic brought fresh attention to everything from high-end hat makers and Black boot designers to old-school staple Levi’s jeans (subject of a Cowboy Carter track that promptly inspired the brand to team up with her). But her adventurous taste in boots stood out: American flag cowboy boots, denim Louboutin boots, and hand-painted diamond-encrusted boots, to name a few. Even Billboard, known for its music industry coverage rather than fashion, published a shoppers guide for how to be in step with Beyoncé’s boot game.

[Cover Image: Princeton University Press]

The Architecture of Urbanity by Vishaan Chakrabarti (Princeton University Press)

In his first book, A Country of Cities: A Manifesto for an Urban America, the architect and urbanist Vishaan Chakrabarti made the case that better designed cities could help solve the country’s challenges from public health to climate change. His follow up book, The Architecture of Urbanity, coming ten years later, builds upon this thesis to show how we can think about designing our communities for nature, culture, and joy. Moving through history to the present day and packed with graphics, maps, and drawings, Chakrabarti’s book is a hopeful and inspiring mandate for today’s designers and architects.

[Cover Image: Phaidon]

Alexander Girard: Let The Sun In by Todd Oldham and Kiera Coffee (Phaidon)

When we think of mid-century design, we often think of a simplified aesthetic of steel and glass and blond woods. This representation can often seem sterile, serious, cold. But the design of the mid-century, of course, was much more varied: warmer, more colorful, and more playful. There are many mid-century designers to admire, from the Eames to George Nelson to Florence Knoll, but no one, perhaps, embodies the playfulness of the era than Alexander Girard. Showcasing his work across interior design, furniture, textiles, graphic design, and architecture, this stunning monograph captures the spirit and playfulness of one of the most important figures of mid-century design.

[Cover Image: Phaidon]

Atlas of Never Built Architecture by Sam Lubell and Greg Goldin (Phaidon)

Sometimes I think my favorite architecture is the architecture that doesn’t exist. The buildings that never got built but remain alive through drawings, renderings, and plans become a type of speculative design, caught between reality and fiction. It seems architecture writers Sam Lubell and Greg Goldin feel similarly because their new book is packed with these never-built buildings. Packed with gorgeous renderings and organized geography, this book becomes an alternative history of some parallel architectural world.

[Cover Image: Letterform Archive]

The Complete Commercial Artist: Making Modern Design in Japan, 1928-1930 by Gennifer Weisenfeld (Letterform Archive)

Over the last decade, there’s been an effort across the design fields to uncover the often-overlooked areas of design history, expanding our understanding of the canon of what design is and can be. One of my favorite recent additions to this expanded design history is Gennifer Weisenfeld’s serious and inspiring look at The Complete Commercial Artist, a 24-volume publication released in Japan from 1928 to 1930. It was during these years, it turns out, that Japanese designers began to rethink the design profession, blending modernist methodologies with local vernacular creating an expressive, colorful, and wholly unique visual style. And it was all documented and discussed in The Complete Commercial Artist. Here, Weisenfeld looks at the history of the publication and the influence of this work on designers today, around the world.

[Cover Image: Princeton Architectural Press]

Building Culture by Julian Rose (Princeton Architectural Press)

Over the last few years, there has been a series of books on the role of architecture in shaping museum experiences. The latest of the genre is art critic Julian Rose’s collection of sixteen interviews with leading architects about the museums they’ve designed, the ideas behind them, and the relationship between art and architecture. Rose is a knowledgeable and generative interlocutor that makes for rich and engaging conversations.

[Cover Image: Draw Down Books]

Superstorm by Noemi Biasetton (Onomatopee)

In an election year that sometimes felt like it was hard to make sense of, I found Italian design researcher Noemi Biasetton’s book to be an anchor. Born out of her PhD work at the University of Venice, Biasetton explores the relationship between communication design, media theory, and political discourse from the 1960s to 2020. Filled with case studies that range from the first televised debates between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon to Michael Bierut’s 2016 Hillary Clinton logo, the film work of Steve Bannon to the now-iconic Obama “O,” Biasetton makes the case that our politics has become media, and that design has fallen behind in the increasingly chaotic superstorm of the Information Age.

[Cover Image: Princeton Architectural Press]

Here: Where the Black Designers Are by Cheryl D. Miller (Princeton Architectural Press)

In 1987, Cheryl D. Miller wrote the now-canonical article “Black Designers Missing In Action” for Print Magazine that reported on the spaces for Black graphic designers. That piece helped kickstart more recent movements in design around diversity, inclusion, and decolonization. In the nearly-40 years since, Miller, a designer, writer, teacher, and theologian, has been at the center of these movements. This new book is a thoughtful memoir of her lifelong quest to answer the question “where are the Black designers?”

Inside 50 years of iconic ‘Saturday Night Live’ opening credits

Fri, 20 Dec 2024 11:00:00 +0000

Saturday Night Live is a cultural institution. In an era when everything is streamed and nothing seems real, NBC’s landmark live sketch comedy show proves that 50 years on, it can still offer a thrill to anyone stuck home on the hottest night of the weekend.

After five decades, the premise could be dull and anachronistic. Instead, it’s as fresh as ever, earning its highest rated season premiere in four years. And while its cast is ever-changing, so much of what makes SNL work comes down to its design. From its logo to its photo bumpers to its unmistakable opening montage of New York City.

For the past few decades, two friends—SNL photographer Mary Ellen Matthews and Pentagram partner Emily Oberman—have influenced the creative direction of so much of what makes SNL feel like SNL. It’s a sensation encapsulated best in the two-minute intro, which transports the viewer from their house in Kansas to glitzy Manhattan. Shot over the course of just a few nights by different directors leading up to each season premiere, the opening credits involve late shoots that often stretch into sunrise, elbowed inside everyone’s workload for the show. But it’s also become the mise en scéne of SNL itself, the anchor that’s bridged half a century of live televised comedy into one cohesive vibe.

“The brief is always the same: It’s the city you love, the party you wish you were at, and the cast you wish you were hanging out with. That’s it,” says Oberman. “And Lorne Michaels’s directive is always, whenever we redo the open, it should feel completely new and completely the same at the same time.”

[Image: NBC]

Rebuilding the ‘SNL’ brand

Oberman got her first chance to help on SNL in 1994, when Jim Signorelli gave her a call. Signorelli technically ran the show’s film unit, but Oberman describes him as the “Capo di tutti capi” (“boss of bosses”) given his seniority on the production, which included overseeing both SNL’s intro and its parody commercials that used to always follow the monologue.

[Images: NBC]

He invited Oberman and her then studio partner Bonnie Siegler to help on a special project. Clear Crystal Pepsi had just come out. He was filming a spot for Crystal Gravy and needed a high-end, corporate graphics treatment—the work of what he called a “type jockey.” That was when Oberman learned the rules of normal life didn’t apply at SNL, and the buzz of working in an edit bay at 1:00 a.m. with brilliant comedic minds. Oberman and Siegler created several spots over the years, including Cookie Dough Sport and Live Action Smurfs.

By 1995, Signorelli asked if the duo wanted to create a new logo. The answer was obviously “yes.” Their design signaled a seachange in SNL’s identity, replacing the manhole-inspired logo from 1988 with a confident “SNL” sitting atop the show’s full name without any spaces in it.

SNL logo evolution (from top): 1988 by Eric Baker, 1995-2005, 2006-2014, 2014-2021, 2022-present.

“Our big idea was Saturday-Night-Live! You just say it as one word like Don Pardo did the voiceover,” says Oberman. Along with the logo work, Oberman began working on the intro titles. “One thing that Jim said to us that has always stuck with me was the show should be funny; the titles should not.”

“The titles had always been shot like it was very downtown, gritty, scrappy,” she continues. “But Saturday Night Live had been around for almost 25 years at that point, and wasn’t that scrappy little thing. It was the biggest late night sketch comedy show of all time. So we wanted to make it cool, like Blue Note jazz, which is why the logo looked like this.”

Since then, Oberman has reimagined the logo four more times (SNL now even has its own typeface called Bass-o-matic) and contributed to the typography of the opener for 30 years now. But that’s only a slice of how Oberman has impacted the visual design of the show.

1975 [Image: NBC]

How credits evolved over 50 seasons

Over the course of season one of NBC’s Saturday Night (the original name for SNL), you can watch the show slowly home in on the skeleton of the contemporary opener. From episode one, creatives set the tone as photographer Edie Basken’s hand-painted photos of New York nightlife montaged atop a still-familiar, sax-rich theme song by Howard Shore. The biggest difference was that the first week listed the cast in one pile on a single screen. By mid-season, the names were read out over two. And finally, toward the end, the cast was given a full hero treatment as each member was listed with their photo, one at a time.

1996 [Image: NBC]

That straightforward approach to listing the talent is in line with a core purpose of the SNL opener. “It’s a place for the cast to be presented,” says Matthews. “I don’t know how else you would do it.”

But while the season 1 cast had only nine people, it has since ballooned to 17 members.

There’s a lot more to get through, which is a reason the opener has doubled in length while also accelerating its pace of presentation. The cuts are faster, and so is the music—which has increased by around 100 beats per minute over five decades.

1997 [Image: NBC]

“It’s a very long intro, and [we] try to make it speak to an audience who’s used to flipping through TikTok,” says Mike Diva, who directs shorts on SNL. “You look at old SNL sketches from even 10 or 15, years ago. And it’s like, everything moved so much slower. People had so much patience, and man, now all of our patience has worn thin.”

All that time is well-used, buying time for the cast and crew to set up behind the scenes. But the viewer is distracted in an ever-modernized media spectacle. Every two or so years since SNL’s debut, the opener is reshot with a shift in tone. By 1996, the scrappy live sketch show had a high-style, ritzy NYC makeover. Around the same time (1999), SNL photographer Mary Ellen Matthews took over for Basken following six years of working as her assistant, ushering in the show’s modern artistic viewpoint.

Matthews’s celebrity host portraits shot in Studio 8H each week—ranging from beautiful to zany to surrealist—serve as the essential bumpers of SNL, offering micro liminal space between the real commercials. They bring a touch of class and visual levity to transition the viewer back from a commercial to live comedy. “What I want to bring to my work is joy,” she says.

[Images: courtesy Emily Oberman]

As Oberman continued working at SNL, and Matthews worked closer with Signorelli, the two women gradually discovered a creative chemistry—though Oberman notes, “It’s all very collaborative, everyone [at SNL] feels like they do the titles.” In 2012, they played with segmenting and slicing visuals and, in 2014, they brought NYC to light with influences from Picasso’s light painting.

[Images: NBC]

“I’ve always been a fan of opening credits and titles, and I find it is own art form for sure. I go back to the James Bondness of these things,” says Matthews. “[Though] funnily enough . . . just started watching something on Netflix with a skip intro, and I’m like, ‘Skip!’ I don’t even watch them! But something like the ones we’ve done, it involves so much, and so many people.”

In 2010, Matthews asked a simple question that would flip the SNL intro upside-down: What the heck was the cast actually doing in the opener?

[Image: NBC]

“The music’s fast-paced, and you really can’t just have somebody sitting there having a drink anymore, because It’s like the music and that action don’t go together,” she says. So Matthews asked the cast, “What is your New York life like?” That led to Fred Armisen poking through records in the West Village and Jason Sudekis playing basketball in Washington Square.

“Cecily Strong wanted to have her dog in a couple of the opens. And her dog is adorable, so she got to have her dog in them,” recalls Oberman. “And those are conversations that Mary Ellen handles and deals with. I don’t meet with the cast members.”

Since then, openers have had a touch more vibe of “actually doing stuff in NYC,” but they’re updated every few years with a new creative brief born from a brainstorm between Matthews and Oberman. Between 2020 and 2022, for instance, the cast was captured making their way back into the studio during the pandemic. Each member’s name was written by hand in a time when celebrities Zooming from home had introduced a new era of authenticity in entertainment. Then in 2022, they captured the entire cast inside the Chelsea Hotel (look closely and you can appreciate the logistical nightmare that is having multiple cast members together in a single shot—given that each member of the cast is juggling their own hectic schedule to kick off the season).

[Images: courtesy Emily Oberman]

In 2018, Matthews and Oberman brainstormed a mashup between French New Wave cinema, a 1960s film movement known for its charming black-and-white surrealism, and New York New Wave, a 1980s art movement mixing media as it is today. They cut inspiration footage together to pitch the idea, and executed what is the most beautiful of the SNL intros to date.

Sometime around 2 a.m., Kate McKinnon was standing inside the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She’s glammed out to the max despite the late hours, looking more like an A-lister than a “not quite ready for prime time player.” And that single frame was so stunning to producer Steve Higgins that Oberman was given more creative license, and the SNL team approved something it never had before: graphics that, instead of ducking and weaving around the cast, were placed right over someone’s face.

[Image: NBC]

“The idea of putting type on top of your hero’s face was a hard sell,” says Oberman. “By showing this one frame where Kate just looks so beautiful, even with type on her face? They were like, ‘Okay, you can do it.’”

[Image: NBC]

Making season 50

As SNL entered its 50th season this year, the team already knew they wanted to do something special with the opening credits.

The piece kicks off with a flash of five decades of SNL logos in bold red—the color is a preference from Michaels to buck SNL’s traditional penchant for aforementioned “blue” note jazz. And what ensues is a frantically paced, color corrected fever dream that blends type and place, eviscerating the fourth wall.

[Images: courtesy Emily Oberman]

“Lorne really wanted to do something big and different and modern was his thing, because he kept saying, ‘This isn’t a nostalgia play, this cast the future of the show . . . this open should be spectacular,” recalls Oberman. “Mary Ellen and I were sort of charged with, what will this be? But Mike [Diva] had this vision.”

[Image: NBC]

Diva films most of the big pre-taped segments you see on SNL—like Gladiator 2: The Musical and HBO Mario Kart—and has been working alongside Matthews and Oberman on the openers since the Chelsea Hotel shoot in 2022.

“I thought about it a lot over the summer,” says Diva. “I came up with this idea of playing around with people’s perception of what they have come to know as the format of the SNL intros, while simultaneously wanting to celebrate how the sausage is made. Until I started working here almost four years ago, I didn’t fully appreciate how, at the very last minute, these sets are coming together, and there’s people flying in chairs and tables and stuff, tru

How TikTok transformed these $5 pajama pants into the uniform for middle schoolers

Fri, 20 Dec 2024 10:30:00 +0000

There was a time when dressing for middle school meant begging your parents for the cutest outfits: perhaps a Hollister graphic tee or the latest Air Jordans. These days, the look is somewhat more casual.

At 7:50 a.m. in New York City, you’ll find hoards of tweens rushing to school in matching pajama pants. Eleanor Woodsworth, 11, of Brooklyn, says that the trend started several months ago. She and her friends would collectively pick a pattern from the retailer Five Below, which sells pajama pants for the pocket-money-friendly price of $5.55. They would then proceed to wear them to school together. “It was kind of like a friendship bracelet,” she says. “It was a way of showing we’re all in the same friend group.”

[Screenshot: TikTok]

Woodsworth isn’t alone. On TikTok, there are hundreds of videos of people visiting Five Below to load up on matching pajamas to wear with their friends. The pants play into the broader trend of “family matching” holiday pajamas that many brands have created over the past five years. “We’re noticing they’re not just being worn at home, but also out with friends,” says a Five Below spokesperson, about the popularity of these pajama pants.

The specific appeal of the Five Below pants also comes down to price. At a time when many people are feeling the pinch of inflation, the pants are a way to participate in the holidays without having to break the bank. “They’re so cheap, everyone can afford them,” says Woodsworth.

@itsginatok These are the cutest $6 pajama pants!

This small cooperative of artisans is taking on Etsy

Fri, 20 Dec 2024 10:30:00 +0000

In 2022, Etsy’s earnings topped $109 million in consolidated net income. “Despite significant macroeconomic headwinds, we maintained the vast majority of our pandemic gains and delivered double digit revenue growth and excellent profitability for the year,” Etsy CEO Josh Silverman said in a press release.

Days later, Silverman announced that the marketplace platform would raise the transaction fee Etsy takes from each sale from 5% to 6.5%. In response, some 14,000 Etsy sellers closed their shops and went on strike for eight days.

During that time, Etsy merchants began discussing potential alternatives to the platform. One group’s conversations migrated to the chat platform Discord, where artisans began envisioning what a better digital marketplace could look like. They imagined a platform where makers could have ownership of the marketplace, and where handmade items could be verified so that buyers could know whether they were buying something authentic or a drop-shipped rip-off of someone else’s creative work.

“We started to envision building a better marketplace experience not just for artisans but also . . . to develop an organization that’s really staked in the economic and creative livelihood of artisans rather than maintaining a stock portfolio or hitting milestones related to external stakeholders in Wall Street,” says Mastress Tara, a participant in these early conversations.

[Screenshot: Artisans Cooperative]

The result was the October 2023 beta launch of the Artisans Cooperative, a member- and supporter-owned co-op marketplace for handmade wares. Today, the cooperative has several hundred members and supporters.

The coop uses a points system for ownership buy-in. Members can take a traditional cash equity route for makers that consists of a $1,000 contribution that can start with as little as $10 down. For supporters, it’s a $100 buy-in also with $10 down.

But money isn’t the only way in. Selling or buying on the platform uses a points system where one point equates to $1. Committing time to the endeavor by participating on a team that helps run the cooperative is another way in.

Now in its second beta phase, it’s focusing on member feedback and honing the site to best suit member-seller needs while developing an internal structure to house that cooperative work. This kind of iterative, try-then-refine-as-you-go approach has been key to the cooperative’s establishment and success, which has relied on support from a variety of sources, from other cooperatives to the USDA.

“The first thing it took was a sense of unity,” says Tara, now a board director and team service co-lead. “There were a lot of decisions to be made and a lot of different pathways that we could take, so understanding where we were unified and what was really important to all of us was primary to be able to get anywhere.”

The group became a member of the Start.coop incubator, which works to scale cooperatively owned businesses and provided $10,000 in seed money to help cover the costs of incorporation in Oregon. “They really helped provide some informed and structured guidance through the process of deciding how we want to model the ownership of the business,” Tara adds.

Artisans Cooperative was also helped by grant funding from the USDA’s Rural Cooperative Development Grant program; according to a 2015 Etsy demographics report, 39% of U.S. Etsy sellers were rural, as compared to 21% of the general population. Through the U.S. Federation of Worker Cooperative that facilitated the program, the USDA funding helped the Artisans Cooperative set up its governance structure and craft its business plan.

“We’ve had the capacity to develop our internal processes and really identify what the next level of scaling is,” Tara says. “For us, that means making the marketplace more functional and being able to have all the features necessary for you to run your business on there if you want to use it exclusively as your platform of sale.”

While the Artisans Cooperative has enjoyed the success of going from idea to reality and growing in the direction they’d like, Tara is candid about how difficult it is to go through the processes of setting up a cooperative and working cooperatively day in and day out.

But the process and experience that they’ve gone through is what’s to be expected when starting a cooperative, according to Andrew Delmonte, executive director of Cooperation Buffalo, a nonprofit that helps fund and create cooperative businesses in the area.

“The thing that we really spend a lot of time on with folks is how to work together, how to make decisions together, how to navigate the implicit power versus the explicit power that might show up,” Delmonte says. “The realism of this is that it’s not easy because everything else in our lives is structured in a certain way”—that is, top-down.

Delmonte is excited by the kind of mixed-ownership model that the Artisans Cooperative is using. “We’re seeing this emergence very recently of more of these multi-stakeholder models of cooperative where there are several kinds of owners all participating collectively in the ownership, the decision-making, and the wealth building. It’s a kind of new frontier in some ways.”

The assistance that Cooperation Buffalo offers in transitioning to cooperative ownership is available nationally, including through networks like Seed Commons.

“At the heart of it, it’s just how we want to organize ourselves to do the things that we need to do for each other, for ourselves,” Delmonte says. “When we take that back, we realize, oh, we could own these businesses, we could make these decisions about what hours we work because it’s just us managing our lives.”

This story was originally published by Next City, a nonprofit news outlet covering solutions for equitable cities. Sign up for Next City’s newsletter for their latest articles and events.

Cheerios get protein-ified, Sandisk catches a vibe, and the NBA recreates its iconic ‘Jingle Hoops’ ad

Fri, 20 Dec 2024 10:15:00 +0000

This week in branding news, Cheerios bulked up, Orangetheory dialed back its intense look, and the NBA took a risky shot with a recreation of its iconic “Jingle Hoops” ad. Here’s everything you need to know from the most recent branding headlines.

[Image: General Mills]

Cheerios bulks up

The news: The protein-ification epidemic has finally come for one of America’s most beloved breakfast options: Cheerios.

Big picture: Earlier this week, General Mills announced that it would be debuting two Cheerios flavors (strawberry and cinnamon) with eight grams of protein per serving compared to regular Cheerios’s three grams. The company noted that close to three-quarters of its consumers are looking to add more protein to their diets, which already compelled General Mills to introduce protein cereals including Wheaties Protein and Ghost protein cereal earlier this year.

Why it matters: America’s obsession with protein intake has been well-documented over the past several years, and brands are recently sprinting to catch up, especially in the snack sector. As documented by the food and beverage newsletter Snaxshot, protein has begun popping up in increasingly unexpected places, including a new pretzel brand, a gummy candy, and even a soda—so protein-maxxers can wash down the chalky taste of the first two snacks with an equally chalky fizzy drink.

Orangetheory rebrands

The news: Orangetheory just debuted a new visual identity that dials back on its reputation for grueling intensity. The updated assets use a juicy, optimistic color palette to emphasize how working out makes members feel, rather than just how high their heart rate can spike.

Big picture: The new branding was created by London-based DesignStudio. In an interview with Creative Boom, the studio’s strategy director noted, “Our research showed that members like the science, but they keep coming back because Orangetheory’s coaches and community make them feel so energized.” To represent that finding, Orangetheory’s revamp includes a spot featuring the diversity of its members, a new, aura-esque color palette, and a more approachable slate of fonts and charming illustrations.

Why it matters: As a company, Orangetheory has historically built its brand around its gamification of exercise, which uses heart-rate tracking to incentivise its members. But, in an era when fitness is becoming more wellness-based rather than merely appearances-driven, Orangetheory’s intense, metrics-centric marketing felt a bit dated. The new look seems like a larger effort to rebrand the company as offering a more approachable service.

“We made a name for ourselves in heart-rate-based training, but with a more holistic, total-body focus now—including the introduction of Strength50—it was the right time to resharpen what our brand stands for and how it stands out,” Orangetheory’s CEO told Marketing Dive.

‘Jingle Hoops’ Part two

The news: Over a decade after the NBA released its iconic “Jingle Hoops” Christmas ad, featuring five iconic basketball players shooting three-pointers to the tune of “Jingle Bells,” the ad is back again this year—but now, it’s animated.

Big picture: The new spot really pulls out all the festive bells and whistles, featuring famous players including Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, LeBron James, Luka Dončić, and Jayson Tatum reimagined as Christmas action figures. The animation, which uses a stop-motion style, shows the players emerging from gifts under the tree, using a drum as a trampoline to execute a lay-up, and riding tiny Hot Wheels cars into frame. Fans’ knee jerk reactions were generally negative, though some YouTube commenters are now arguing that nostalgia was clouding their initial judgement. “This is a really good ad, pretty sure the hate’s coming from the fact the first one was too iconic,” one user wrote.

Why it matters: The revived ad is a promotion for the NBA’s upcoming Christmas Day games, which will include a brand new feature this year: a real-time animated version of an NBA game. The special coverage, called “Dunk the Halls,” will appear on ESPN2, Disney+, and ESPN+, and it will show that day’s Spurs vs. Knicks game as it takes place—just with toy players instead of the real people themselves.

[Image: Sandisk]

Sandisk’s vibey new logo

The news: The flash drive and memory card maker Sandisk just introduced a full rebrand, and it’s kind of . . . a vibe?

Big picture: Sandisk’s new visuals are anchored in a single cornerstone: the singular square pixel. That shows up in its new 45-second spot, and in a futuristic logo, wherein each letterform incorporates the pixel shape in some way while relying on the viewer’s eye to complete its shapes. The whole thing has a glitchy cool factor. In an interview with Fast Company, the designers behind the updated look said they “asked themselves during the design process what the new logo might look like on a spaceship.”

Why it matters: The rebrand comes as Sandisk’s parent company, Western Digital, plans to spin it off into its own separate public company next year. It seems that Sandisk is ready to ditch its ‘90s-esque energy in favor of a more future-looking stance.

10 Common Scent Mistakes to Avoid in Your Home

Fri, 20 Dec 2024 09:55:28 +0000

Smell is one of the most powerful senses, with a strong influence on mood and perception. Pleasant smells make your home feel fresher and more inviting, but other scents can have the opposite effect. Choosing the right fragrances for your home requires thoughtful planning, as does avoiding certain smells. This is especially crucial when hosting guests at your home, but it is also key for making your family feel at ease in their surroundings. Understanding what causes unpleasant odors and how to eliminate them will enable you to create a more pleasant environment for all.

Unpleasant-smelling homes do not necessarily indicate that your home is not clean; it could simply be that you overlooked or left something unattended that caused the bad odor. Here are some of the most common causes of unpleasant odors in homes.

Not Addressing Pet Odors

Pets are one of the biggest challenges in maintaining a fresh-smelling home. Pet hair, litter boxes, accidents, and bedding are the most common causes of bad odors, and the more pets you have, the more difficult the challenge becomes.

To eliminate or at least mitigate the odors associated with pets, practice frequent grooming, such as washing and trimming or brushing, to reduce hair shedding. Clean and wash their bedding frequently, vacuum carpets, and mop hard floors to keep the odors from settling. Use specialty enzymatic cleaners for accidents to break down the compounds that cause bad smells. Use an air purifier, HEPA air filters, and ensure good ventilation to ensure air circulation.

Letting Cooking Odors Linger

Your cooking may smell delicious in the moment, but many cooking odors that linger become unpleasant. The biggest food offenders include garlic, onions, fish, and oils.

To minimize these smells, it is vital that you use a range hood or open a window while you are cooking to allow these smells to escape rather than become embedded in the walls and fabric of your home. Clean up right after cooking so these elements do not sit around. Take the garbage out immediately after you put in food waste from meal prep. For stubborn cooking smells, consider investing in an air purifier to freshen the smell of the kitchen.

Using Overpowering Scents

It can be tempting to fill your home with pleasant scents to ensure that it smells good, but this is actually counterproductive. Strong fragrances from candles, diffusers, and sprays can cause headaches, trigger allergies, and overwhelm those in the room. Overpowering scents can also mask unpleasant odors and make you neglect the root cause of bad smells in your home.

A better strategy is to use lighter-smelling fragrances and have adequate ventilation so that your home feels fresh and welcoming rather than stuffy and overwhelming.

Neglecting Ventilation

Poor airflow is one of the most likely causes of unpleasant odors in your home. Inadequate ventilation allows odors from pets, cooking, mold, and damp areas to accumulate without a way out. Even pleasant smells can become cloying when they are too confined.

To maintain a fresh home environment, you should have multiple sources of ventilation. These can include fresh air from open windows and doors, exhaust fans, an HVAC system, ceiling fans, floor fans, and air purifiers. It will be easier to get rid of unpleasant odors by using a variety of ventilation techniques at the same time.

Relying Too Heavily on Artificial Scents

Carefully chosen artificial scents can be a vital part of creating a fresh-smelling home, but a too heavy reliance on these scents can mask unpleasant odors and also make a home feel inauthentic.

Rather than relying on artificial smells to make your home smell good, address fundamental issues such as adequate ventilation to draw out bad odors. You can also think about using natural scents to create a pleasing scent in your house, like essential oil-infused air diffusers, simmering pots, and fresh flowers and plants.

Using Fragrances to Hide an Unclean Space

Fragrances are used by some people to make a room smell cleaner than it actually is (example: think college dorms). This is certainly a quicker option, but it is not a good long-term strategy. For one thing, it doesn’t work. The fragrance may mask the worst manifestations of the bad smell, but it will still be there, contributing to the overwhelming odor of the space.

A better goal than making your space smell good is to clean it and address the root causes that are creating the negative odor. Rid the space of anything causing the room to smell bad, such as spoiled or smelly food, old laundry, and garbage. Add ventilation, such as a fan, or open a window to remove smelly air. Use fresh and light fragrances, such as those from essential oils, to make the room smell better.

Neglecting Wet Laundry

When wet clothes are left piled up in a laundry basket or in the washer, they quickly develop a sour odor due to mold and mildew growth. Rather than allowing wet laundry to accumulate, wash and dry it as soon as possible, even if you can not fold and store it right away. If you leave wet laundry until it starts to mold, you will need to rewash it with a cup of vinegar or baking soda to get rid of the musty odor. Check that the clothes are dry before you leave them, as any dampness will make the laundry sour.

Mismatching Scents for the Room

When considering which scents to use in your home, one factor to consider is the purpose of the room. Using the wrong scent for the space can clash with the vibe you want to create. Sweet dessert-like scents are out of place in a bathroom, just like heavy floral smells clash with the earthy aromas of the kitchen. Instead, choose a smell that complements the function of the room, such as citrus in the kitchen or lavender for the bedroom.

Not Addressing Damp and Moldy Spaces

Moisture retention in areas like basements, bathrooms, and unventilated areas are ideal environments for mold and mildew growth. This causes an odor that can seep into furniture upholstery, carpets, and walls and hang heavily over your home. Prolonged exposure to mold spores and mildew can also cause respiratory problems and allergies.

It is vital to address any moisture problems you have in your home, such as those caused by leaking pipes, roof problems, and poor ventilation. Even if you don’t have an overt problem, you may need to use a dehumidifier to absorb moisture in areas prone to dampness, like basements.

Not Taking the Garbage Out Frequently

As food waste, old packaging, and other discarded items sit in the trash, they begin to decompose and release foul smells. Full trash cans not only smell bad, but they also attract pests like rodents and bugs.

It is recommended to empty your indoor garbage cans on a regular basis and transfer them to an outdoor bin. Even if you do not want to empty it every day, you should empty it within a few days to avoid unpleasant odors in your home. Make sure to empty it before hosting an event to ensure that your home smells its best. It is also helpful to periodically wash out your trash can to make sure the bottom is not harboring bad smells.

The post 10 Common Scent Mistakes to Avoid in Your Home appeared first on Homedit.

Club James: A Contemporary Evolution of an Iconic Architectural Legacy

Fri, 20 Dec 2024 09:14:12 +0000

The Sheats-Goldstein Residence, a hallmark of mid-century modern architecture, stands as one of Los Angeles’s most celebrated homes. Designed by John Lautner in 1962, the residence has gained fame not only for its striking design but also for its appearances in films, television, and music videos. In 2023, Los Angeles-based Conner + Perry Architects unveiled Club James—a visionary addition to the estate that seamlessly merges past and future.

The post Club James: A Contemporary Evolution of an Iconic Architectural Legacy appeared first on Architecture Art Designs.

This Spectacular Alpine Retreat Overlooks NZ’s Snowcapped Mountains

Thu, 19 Dec 2024 19:00:57 +0000

This Spectacular Alpine Retreat Overlooks NZ’s Snowcapped Mountains

Interiors

by Christina Karras

Scout is a new build in Wānaka, Central Otago.

The bold pitched-roof was inspired by the area’s rural architecture.

A deck connects the main communal spaces in the ‘barn’ structure to the house to a secondary dwelling housing the bedrooms.

Coloursteel exterior cladding painted Dulux Lichen.

Sliding doors emphasise the house’s connection the environment.

At heart of the main dwelling is an open-concept mezzanine level, complete a balcony overlooking Lake Wānaka.

HAY Palissade outdoor setting from Cult.

Orientated strand board (OSB) brings a humble, cosy feel to the interiors.

The living room was inspired by the sunken lounges of the 1970s.

The open-plan kitchen and dining.

Steps lead to the mezzanine floor.

Brass handles by Lo & Co.

The house balances spaces for gathering and retreating.

The bathroom. Tapware by ABI Interiors. Custom-designed Japanese tiles by Kazoku Tiles.

Wall lights by Snelling Studio and Nightworks.

Inside one of the bedrooms.

Muted green hues feature across the joinery.

Outdoor bathtub by Stonebaths NZ.

‘[I] adore the outdoor bath — a space for peaceful moments of reflection and connection with the surroundings,’ Sophie says.

Walnut joinery echoes the rich, autumnal tones of the surrounding landscape.

The sunken lounge.

The magical home at dusk.

It was pure luck that Sophie Bowers and Josh Climpson ended up as the owners of this incredible alpine retreat in New Zealand’s South Island.

The story began when the couple took a ‘serendipitous road trip’ across Central Otago in 2019, and stumbled across an off-market property in a paddock with unobstructed views of Lake Wānaka and the surrounding peaks.

‘The site was a pristine, untouched section of grass — a blank canvas surrounded by Wānaka’s striking alpine terrain,’ says Sophie, managing director of Sydney-based design firm Strutt Studios.

Immediately after visiting the site, they imagined building a unique holiday home there, even sketching out an initial concept for their dream build on the back of a napkin at dinner that evening. They bought the property, and as they say, the rest is history.

While the build didn’t start until November 2023, Sophie and Josh stayed true to the simple forms they envisioned on their first day at the property. The resulting home, known as Scout, combines a tall, pitched-roof barn for communal living spaces; a central hub connecting entry and utility; and a shorter square dwelling for private rooms.

‘From the outset, we envisioned a contemporary interpretation of alpine tramping huts and wool sheds,’ Sophie says. ‘As there was no existing structure, we were free to design from scratch.’

She looked to the older part of Wānaka town for key architectural references, drawing inspiration from the restrained street facades with minimal openings and modernist alpine lodges.

The exterior is bold yet utilitarian, clad entirely in corrugated iron — painted in a subtle, aged green hue — as another nod to New Zealand’s barn-style typography.

‘Like these rural buildings, Scout is designed to appear grounded and “bunkered down” into the landscape, revealing its true scale and volume only once you’re inside,’ Sophie says.

‘The greatest influence, however, was the seasonal colour palette of the surrounding landscape.’

A uniform backdrop of OSB chipboard lines the interior walls, allowing for accents of rich browns, iron reds, and moss tones. The polished concrete floors, walnut joinery, and handcrafted Japanese tiles also add to the calming atmosphere — enhanced by carefully placed windows and sliding doors revealing the truly spectacular mountain views.

Sophie says Scout is a complete sanctuary that carefully balances private and public spaces, with luxurious additions like an outdoor bath, a 1970s-inspired conversation pit lounge room, and a rooftop balcony overlooking the lake.

‘We’re proud of how every element — from the intimate mezzanine lounge to the large picture window — seamlessly integrates into the landscape, making the home feel like a natural extension of its environment,’ Sophie says.

How To Mix And Match Sofas: 33 Stylish Ideas

Thu, 19 Dec 2024 17:25:45 +0000

If your living room is big enough for creating a whole conversation pit, you might be wondering how to mix and match all the seating furniture here, and most of all, how to mix and match your sofas. As we are living in the era of eclectic and maximalist designs, choosing mix and match furniture is a common idea that will make your space more eye-catching. Here are some ideas to do that with style. Tie Them Up Before you choose the sofas, you need to decide how to tie them up. There should be at least one feature that will make them look nice together, that can be style, shape, color or upholstery. Sometimes the couches seem absolutely different but if they both match the style of the room, it’s fine.

The post How To Mix And Match Sofas: 33 Stylish Ideas appeared first on Shelterness.

Radical Bike-Related Designs Spotted in 2024

Thu, 19 Dec 2024 16:17:27 +0000

Each year, over 100 million bicycles are produced worldwide, versus 94 million automobiles. The modern buyer includes urban residents seeking environmentally-friendly transport and exercise, as well as those in developing nations seeking a reliable and affordable means of transport. Bike ownership surged during the pandemic—some estimates have it at 25% growth in 2020 alone—and sales will only grow. So it's not surprising that we saw a ton of bike-related designs this year.

We'll start off with the precursor to the bicycle: The running machine, a/k/a the Draisine, developed by German inventor Karl Drais in 1816.

Drais could never imagined that in 208 years, his invention would yield descendants like these:

This low-maintenance, corrosion-proof RCYL Bike. Some 90% of the bike is made out of plastic.

Taiwanese manufacturer BESV's stylish PSF1, a folding e-bike.

The Owlet, a radical new form for the e-bike.

Bleeding into motorcycle territory is this electric, off-road 2x2 Ultra Bike by Russia's Robo Systems.

As e-bikes proliferate, so too do e-bike accidents. In a drive to increase safety, Dutch police have begun using this roadside e-bike speed testing contraption.

E-bikes need to be charged, of course. Industrial Design student Matthew Quejada designed this Ultium Lift, an e-bike charging station for garages.

Another type of bike Drais probably couldn't have foreseen is the cargo bike. German company Dynamic Drives has completely re-thought the cargo bike form factor with their Intelectra pedelec.

Meanwhile in London, manufacturer Cityshuttle has mashed up the electric cargo bike with a tractor-trailer to create their ePack.

For those who don't need a full cargo bike, from Germany comes this Allpacka One, a collapsible cargo box for bikes.

Engineer Robert G. Ozarski invented the Kradl, an electricity-free, spring-loaded bike hoist that makes it easier to store.

Industrial designer Adrien Rovero designed this cheeky bike rack as a clear statement.

Swiss company V-Locker designed these space-efficient, paternoster-like bike storage lockers.

Also in Switzerland, industrial design firm Erfindergeist created this transforming train seating for bike storage.

Bike helmets, too, are increasingly receiving design attention. The Ventete aH-1 is an inflatable, collapsible design.

Industrial designers Masaru Kiyota and Sawyer Hagen designed the Oshel, a lockable bike helmet.

Another industrial designer, Ash Lewin, has realized his dream for the fastest bike helmet ever.

And finally, for you mountain bikers: The RinseKit Tailgate Shower makes it easy to hose your bike off after a muddy ride.

10 Mistakes Homeowners Make With Area Rugs and How to Fix Them

Thu, 19 Dec 2024 11:00:53 +0000

Area rugs are an essential component of home design, adding comfort, style, and texture to a room. However, there are some common mistakes that people make when using rugs that can lead to frustration later. Many homeowners make unintentional choices about area rugs that reduce the impact of the design or cause an imbalance in the layout. From material considerations to spatial missteps, these errors can leave a room feeling incomplete, impractical, or awkward. Understanding the common area rug mistakes is the first step in choosing a rug that can elevate rather than detract from your interior design.

Whether you are selecting an area rug for a large living room or a small hallway, a rug is an essential part of the room’s style and function, so avoid these mistakes the first time around.

Choosing the Wrong Size Rug

Choosing the wrong size rug for the room is one of the most common mistakes that homeowners make when selecting an area rug. This is a fundamental mistake that will affect the balance and cohesion of the room. A rug that is too small makes a room appear smaller than it is, whereas a rug that is too large for the space obscures the floor and costs more than necessary.

Avoid this mistake by carefully measuring your room and considering the furniture in the room. Choose a rug that will accommodate at least the front legs of all the furniture in the area. In a dining room, the rug should extend beyond the dining table and allow the chairs to be pulled out without coming to the outside of the edge of the rug.

Skipping a Rug Pad

The decision to forgo a rug pad might seem like a good financial choice in the moment. In fact, skipping a rug pad is a mistake that can cause serious problems in the future, such as rug slippage. This is particularly problematic in high-traffic areas, where it can pose a safety risk. It can also cause the rug to wear down faster because it increases the friction between it and the floor.

Unless your rug has a pad built in or a non-slip backing, you should buy a rug pad as part of your initial investment in the area rug you purchase. This will ensure that your rug stays in place without slipping or bunching. This will also increase the longevity and comfort of your rug and protect your flooring underneath.

Choosing the Rug Material Without Considering the Room’s Function

Selecting the right rug for a room means considering the materials of the rug in view of the purpose of the room. A rug that is not appropriate for the room’s use or traffic can quickly become unusable. A delicate silk rug in a heavily used living room, for example, or a light-colored shag rug in a pet-friendly home, are not ideal choices.

Consider the demands of the space when choosing a rug material. Wool, sisal, and synthetic blends are good choices for high-traffic areas, as are cotton rugs that can be laundered when necessary. Look for features like stain resistance in areas with high traffic or a risk of food spills. Delicate rug materials are best reserved for low-traffic spaces like bedrooms.

Neglecting Rug Maintenance

Neglecting the maintenance of your rug can lead to a dull and worn appearance and ultimately mean that the rug does not last as long as it should. Dust, debris, and stains accumulate in your rug due to the consistent wear and tear of normal life. Unaddressed, these elements can break down the fibers of the rug and erode the color.

Establish a consistent maintenance routine, including vacuuming and rotating the rug to ensure even wear. Be sure to use the appropriate suction for the vacuum according to the material. Also, address spills immediately with rug-safe cleaning products. Test these products in the back or a small corner of the rug to ensure that they do not cause damage to your rug.

Choosing Rugs With Clashing Colors or Patterns

An area rug is one of the most vital foundational aspects of a room design, so clashing patterns or colors can disrupt the harmony of the room, making it feel chaotic and disjointed. Great care must be taken to choose a rug that works with the rest of the elements of the room.

When selecting a rug for an existing room, consider the other colors and patterns in the space. Opt for a rug with subtle tones and colors if the room already has bold colors and patterns. In contrast, a room with a minimalist design may benefit from a more vibrant rug style. If you are designing a room from scratch, choose a rug as one of the first elements and build the room with the style and colors of the rug in mind.

Failing to Define Zones

Not using rugs effectively in a room design to define specific zones is a wasted opportunity to create structure and visual interest. Without clear divisions, such as in open floor plans, a large room can feel overwhelming or disconnected. Area rugs can be used to define specific zones, such as separating a living room and dining room or delineating a reading zone in a living room or bedroom.

To use this strategy, consider the layout of your space and the areas you want to create. Choose a rug that suits the size and purpose of each zone. For example, in a living room, choose an area rug that anchors the seating arrangement. Choose a smaller, perhaps asymmetrical rug to place in a corner to define a cozy reading space.

Blocking Ventilation

Covering floor vents is a common area rug mistake that can compromise the air flow in the room and cause damage to your HVAC system and rug. Blocking vents restricts the circulation of hot and cold air, making your system work harder to maintain the desired temperature. The trapped air can discolor your rug and wear it over time.

Carefully measure your area and consider the placement of the vents before you purchase a rug. Because floor vents are most often located on the perimeter of the room, just buy a rug that fits inside the vents.

Using the Wrong Shape

The wrong-shaped rug can make an interior design feel awkward and out of sync with the room layout. For instance, a round rug in a long, narrow hallway will visually disrupt the flow of the space. To avoid this mistake, consider the shape of the rug in view of the room layout, shape, and furniture.

In dining rooms, the shape of the rug often echoes the shape of the dining table. This repeating pattern brings visually cohesion to the space. For living rooms, choose a rug that fits the configuration of the seating area you want to complement.

Neglecting Layering Opportunities

Layering rugs is an excellent way to add depth, texture, and visual interest to a room design. The key to effectively layering is balance—ensuring that the rugs complement rather than compete with each other. Start by choosing a base layer rug. This rug needs to be large, flat-woven, and likely have neutral coloring. Next, choose a smaller rug in a different material. This rug can have bolder colors and patterns than the base rug if you desire.

Not Choosing the Best Quality Rug You Can

Choosing a low-quality rug option may feel like a cost-saving option, but this choice can lead to frustration as the rug wears out and fades in color. Poor-quality materials, like some synthetic fibers, are prone to more damage from foot traffic, spills, and cleaning, resulting in a rug that looks more worn than higher-quality rug options. Cheaper-quality rugs also lack the warmth, comfort, and elevated style of more expensive rugs.

Rugs made from wool, jute, sisal, and certain synthetic blends are some of the most durable choices in terms of longevity, comfort, and style. Look for rugs with tight construction, high weave density, and heavy backing to ensure you are buying a quality piece. Even if these rugs are more expensive initially, they will last and become family heirlooms if you take care of them. This makes higher-quality rugs a smarter investment in the long run.

The post 10 Mistakes Homeowners Make With Area Rugs and How to Fix Them appeared first on Homedit.

One last goodbye to New York City’s best, weirdest, most delightful dining sheds

Thu, 19 Dec 2024 10:45:00 +0000

Since mid 2020, a fleet of outdoor dining sheds has been holding court in the city’s parking spaces, turning the curb into dining rooms—and a site for experimental architecture. But as of November 30, with the official end of the temporary pandemic relief program, pretty much all of the structures have vanished. With their disappearance, some are mourning the “death” of outdoor dining, while others are documenting how a space that a dozen people could use for eating has returned to car storage for one.

TreGiovani. 548 LaGuardia Pl, photographed May 26, 2024. A fresh take on a classic design. It’s a very well maintained design, notable for it’s lack of flooring. [Photo: John Tymkiw/How We Ate]

I’d like to take a moment to celebrate what has been an inventive moment for architecture in the city, as we move from the expressive structures to the tightly regulated permanent program, which begins in April next year.

Bandits 44 , Bedford St photographed July21,2021. This is an excellent example of a plywood take on the classic train car diner that used to be ubiquitous in New York. The owner of Bandits, Adam Fulton, worked with Angus McIntosh of Yakka Studio to craft this shelter. [Photo: John Tymkiw/How We Ate]

The streeteries—also known as dining sheds or the more playful Coronashaxx—started out as hastily improvised structures. Still, they were delightful moments during a dark time in the city. The first batch I saw, in the summer of 2020, looked entirely sourced from off-the-shelf hardware store products like garden trellises, banisters, saw horses, picket fencing, and plywood sheets sometimes with a coat of cheerful paint. There were a few city guidelines around what restaurants could build, but little precedent on all the forms it could take. Vernacular styles abounded.

Uluh. 152A Second Ave, May 12,2021. One of the OG designs that disappeared quite quickly, and will not likely return again. [Photo: John Tymkiw/How We Ate]

Within a few months, as the heat of summer gave way to winter chill, the structures received roofs and enclosures. (And remember those bizarre plastic bubbles?) Architects and professional builders came on the scene with sophisticated designs that looked more like tiny homes in Dwell than the ramshackle corrals of just a few months prior. Of course, not all the structures were notable for good reasons. Some restaurants tried to get away with brazen acts, like building a two-story structure. The city quickly shut it down.

Cibar. 56 Irving Place. Photographed Dec 31, 2021. Notable for its use of colored plexiglass, this bar was a favorite on instagram. [Photo: John Tymkiw/How We Ate]

For the most part, though, the structures symbolized optimism. I was especially moved by the mutual aid collaboration between the neighborhood advocacy group Think!Chinatown and design studio A+A+A on a handful of pro-bono streeteries for restaurants in Manhattan’s Chinatown. Architects like to say their work improves lives and in this case, the structures immediately saved the livelihood of many small businesses.

Joey Roses. 174 Rivington St, photographed June 7, 2022. Modeled on an actual Winnebago, this outdoor dining shelter on the Lower East Side was among the most eye-catching designs. The “W” logo on the side is actually a whiskey company, which I assume helped pay for the construction. It was designed for sandwich shop Joey Roses, run by stand-up comedian Joe DeRosa, by Studio Castellano and painted by local artist Aesops Lucy. [Photo: John Tymkiw/How We Ate]

John Tymkiw, a freelance creative director, spent the last four and a half years documenting many of the most ambitious streeteries on his Instagram How We Ate, and in a six-volume series of photo books. This included the artist Jenny Sabin’s digitally knitted vault over the coworking space Neuehouse’s outdoor dining area; Stephanie Goto’s red pinstriped cabanas for the Michelin-starred restaurant Daniel; and a Pullman-style space for Empire Diner by Caroline Brennan, of Silent Volume. And in a clever architectural duck, the creative studio East of Normal designed a tiered seating area that riffed on brownstone stoops for Foreigner coffee’s Chelsea outpost.

Empire Diner. 117 Ninth Ave, photographed Oct 17, 2021. A modern take on the classic train car diner, for one of the last remaining train car diners in the city. It’s bold and bright and reminds me of a space-age flying submarine. The colorful mural behind the shelter makes it a favorite on instagram. Designed by Caroline Brennan at Silent Volume, it won an Alfesco Award for the design. [Photo: John Tymkiw/How We Ate]

“It’s been fascinating documenting this accidental experiment, in which the city gave over the streets to the people and let them construct pretty much whatever they wanted,” Tymkiw says. “I’m hoping that next year the new ones serve the city in an equally creative way.”

Henry Public. 329 Henry St, photographed Aug 28, 2024. This is a very detailed well-crafted construction, reminiscent of a rustic lodge, or architecture from Europe. As with many bars and pubs, it features concrete barriers. [Photo: John Tymkiw/How We Ate]

In a city where permits are required to build virtually anything and where change is difficult to achieve, these outdoor dining structures showed what was possible when elected officials prioritized public health and quality of life over the status quo. It’s not yet known what the future of outdoor dining will look like now that restaurants have to go through more bureaucracy to build them and more expense to disassemble and store them under the seasonal program. For starters, it seems like a lot fewer restaurants are going to participate. This past summer, between 6,000 and 8,000 sheds were in use, according to the NYC Department of Transportation. As of now, the DOT has received 3,691 applications, 1,419 of which involve roadway sheds. (Restaurants can apply anytime.)

Yellow Rose. 102 Third Ave photographed Nov 9, 2022. Art by Jody Morlock. Yellow Rose asked neighbor Jody Morlock to paint the outside and inside walls to reflect the friendly, exhuberant vibe of this neighborhood Tex-Mex favorite. [Photo: John Tymkiw/How We Ate]

A new, less weird era for streeteries

Still, while the free-for-all has ended, the experimental spirit is far from over. It will look different and probably less weird, though. We’ve already seen a preview of what next year’s streeteries will look like, courtesy of the start-up re-ply, which is framing outdoor dining not as a structure, but as a service. In August, the company installed one of its demountable modular designs at Bar Americano, in Greenpoint, which was done up with a draped canvas sun shade, stylish white trellises to block traffic, and off-white paint to match the establishment’s interior design.

Bar Americano. 180 Franklin St. Photographed Aug 25, 2024. This is an approved, modular design, created by Re-Ply, an architectural firm offering turn-key solutions that include storage in the winter. The designs feature floors that flip up for easy cleaning and customizable water-filled safety barriers. [Photo: John Tymkiw/How We Ate]

Advocacy organizations are also gearing up to make outdoor dining a year-round program. Open Plans recently launched a fundraiser to help this work. “Basically we think the challenges of the original program were totally solvable and the Council took the easy way out, weakening a really popular and lucrative program and regressing on a great public space reform by returning those dining spots to free parking,” says Chelsea Dowell, a spokesperson for the organization.

Tacombi. 242 Metropolitan Ave, photographed June 18,2021. Tacombi is a mexican restaurant with eleven locations in New York. Every time I come across one of these, I think of a piñata UFO. They are cheerful, and literally make me smile. This simple solution is modular and sturdy. It’s also bright and inviting on the inside. A really well-matched design for this brand. Designed by NDNY. Mexican chain Tacombi has 11 locations in New York City and has embraced the outdoor dining shelter trend with a modular solution designed by NDNY at several restaurants. “Every time I come across one of these I think of a piñata UFO,” said Tymkiw. “They are cheerful and literally make me smile. It’s also bright and inviting on the inside. A really well-matched design for this brand.” [Photo: John Tymkiw/How We Ate]

So while the streeteries are gone, the need for welcoming public spaces and improving the quality of life on our streetscapes is very much still needed. In October, the city’s planning department issued a report on storefront retail in New York. It noted that open streets—streets that are closed off to vehicular traffic and are often hubs for outdoor dining—are seeing greater recovery to pre-COVID vacancy rates and that the tenants in storefronts are increasingly oriented around experiences, not selling merchandise.

As the city prepares itself for another phase one of outdoor dining, it’s worth remembering that there’s always room to improvise. We have all the evidence to show just how exciting it can be.

KFC’s wacky new restaurant is all about chicken fingers and sauce

Thu, 19 Dec 2024 10:30:00 +0000

From the outside, KFC’s new restaurant concept Saucy looks nothing like KFC. Inside, the fried chicken chain is putting a sauce-first spin on its menu.

Opening December 20 in Orlando with more locations to come, the restaurant has a pink exterior with a logo that looks like it could have been written out in sauce, while the interior is decked out in bright pink, red, and orange. It’s loud and bright, and KFC says the restaurant’s markedly different look is meant to communicate to diners that the standalone concept is new and different. Saucy puts sauce front and center, offering chicken tenders with a choice of 11 different sauces, from Peri Peri Ranch and Creole Honey Mustard to Sweet Teriyaki.

[Photo: Saucy]

“Sauces are the star of the show at Saucy, and they allow us to offer something truly unique,” KFC’s chief concept office Christophe Poirier tells Fast Company. “Our customers have the freedom to experiment and personalize their meals—mixing and matching sauces is encouraged.”

[Photo: Saucy]

As for the restaurant’s unconventional design and color scheme, Poirier says it was designed to be a “welcoming space that would resonate with today’s younger, adventurous diner.”

“We embraced a vibrant aesthetic that’s playful and dynamic with pops of pink and even tech-forward kiosks for an immersive dining experience,” he says.

[Photo: Saucy]

Chicken has become an increasingly popular—and competitive—fast food item since 2019’s chicken sandwich war. Even Taco Bell, which is owned by KFC’s parent company Yum Brands, announced this week it’s getting into the space, selling its own tortilla chip-breaded crispy chicken nuggets for a limited time.

KFC ranked third among fast food chicken chains by market share last year behind Chick-fil-A and Popeyes, according to Barclays, and its same-store sales for the chain fell in the U.S. in the first three quarters of 2024, hence the new concept. With such a crowded market for fast food chicken, it’s leaning on sauce as a key differentiator. Earlier this year KFC announced Saucy Nuggets in five flavors, and with Saucy, KFC says the restaurant’s 11 sauce flavors means diners have more than 4,000 ways to customize their order.

[Photo: Saucy]

While the rise of food delivery apps has changed customer behavior across the fast food industry, Yum Brands is betting on investing in its physical restaurants to coax diners back. Its tested out speciality restaurants for Taco Bell, like Taco Bell Cantina, while for Pizza Hut, another restaurant in its portfolio, the company is piloting a new restaurant design with a drive-thru menu, open kitchen, and kiosks diners can order on.

Saucy represents something new. Rather than overhauling KFC, it’s building on it with a spin off that allows the company to test a new store concept and experiment with an unconventional brand. The chicken wars just got even more competitive.

The story behind the year’s best book cover

Thu, 19 Dec 2024 10:15:00 +0000

It’s bold. It’s restrained. It’s graceful. It’s terrifying. It feels inevitable, yet it’s startling. There’s no easy way to describe the cover for Salman Rushdie’s Knife, which is why it’s one of the best book covers of the year.

So, how does a jacket for a memoir that carries as much literary and cultural significance as Knife—which details the author’s 2022 stabbing and recovery—actually come together?

Scrupulously.

Greg Mollica, Random House vice president, executive art director, says the assignment was equal parts daunting and exciting.

“When these sort of special projects come on my desk, I’m like, Okay . . . we’ve gotta take our time with it. It has to be very considered,” he says.

[Image: courtesy Random House]

Perhaps the most critical decision the art director faced was hiring a designer with the care and craft that a project like Knife requires. Mollica says he found that in a collaborator he’d worked with before, Acacia creative director Arsh Raziuddin, previously of The Atlantic, The New York Times, and Bon Appétit.

“After I read the manuscript, I just kind of knew that she would do something unexpected and considered and conceptually sound—and just simple, elegant and beautiful, as well.”

MAJESTIC PLACES BUILT OUT OF ALPHABETS

Knife is a visceral account of Rushdie’s 2022 attack, which came decades after Iran’s then-supreme leader, Ruhollah Khomeini, issued a fatwa following the 1988 publication of Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses. But the memoir is also a love story featuring Rushdie’s wife, writer Rachel Eliza Griffiths, who was by his side as he recovered. (As Rushdie described Knife to The New York Times, “I wanted to write a book which was about both love and hatred—one overcoming the other.”)

“We knew we wanted it [the cover] to be sort of stunning and dramatic, but beautiful and sensitive at the same time,” Mollica says.

Raziuddin says that every book jacket should feel just right—but that was particularly the case with this one. And in the process of working on the cover, she created more versions of it than any other book she has designed.

[Image: courtesy Random House]

Early on, she and Mollica had agreed that the title does a lot of the work—and could stand largely on its own. “So I took that and kind of ran with it,” Raziuddin says.

[Image: courtesy Random House]

Raziuddin and Mollica experimented with surrealist directions inspired by some of Rushdie’s poetic prose and the dream-like elements in the book. She explored celestial objects, eye motifs (Rushdie lost sight in his right eye in the attack), and also drew inspiration from the first thing he remembered seeing when he regained consciousness—“majestic palaces and other grand edifices . . . all built out of alphabets.”

“I focused a lot on that, which I think was a bit too niche, because it is a book that everyone is going to pick up,” Raziuddin says. “So, how do we make it more approachable?”

Mollica says that his team ultimately presented Rushdie with a set of seven or so covers—and that’s when something truly rare in book publishing happened.

[Image: courtesy Random House]

COVERING KNIFE

When Mollica and Raziuddin began batting ideas back and forth at the start of the project, Mollica says he kept envisioning a slice through the cover.

The very first cover Raziuddin designed is the one that appears on the book today.

“This is why I love working with brilliant people,” Mollica says. “I did not imagine Arsh would replace the ‘i’ with the slice. That was her genius. That just takes it to a different place.”

Raziuddin says the cut that appears on the final cover is digital, which she mixed with various physical textures. Mollica notes that the typography was a critical element, as some treatments could easily read as, say, a thriller, and one key objective from the outset was to avoid the cover feeling like a genre work. Raziuddin found her solution in The Designers Foundry’s Wulkan Display.

[Image: courtesy Random House]

“This one in particular had enough of a sharpness and an edge without it feeling overly dramatic,” she says. “It felt like it complemented the actual slit of the knife well. And it felt dainty. It felt a bit dainty and beautiful, in a way that kind of reflected the ease and the love in the book. I would say the book is an easy read in some ways. It’s dark and it’s heavy when it’s talking about the actual incident—but so much of what he explains about his life and himself post-incident is really beautiful and uplifting to read. I wanted to balance that.”

The soft color palette further helped establish that tone, and Mollica says Rushdie immediately picked that initial cover as his favorite, leading to a rare instance where the first comp crosses the finish line and is universally loved by everyone involved.

Raziuddin says it felt right when she designed it—and while she has gotten a lot of positive feedback on it, it was just the most obvious solution to her.

“I think it’s nice to see how many people still pay attention to covers,” she says. “It’s nice to see that people still value it and it’s still a craft—and how it can leave an impact on someone, and it does matter if a cover is good. You should judge a book by its cover, to some degree.”

The great AI gadget debacle of 2024

Thu, 19 Dec 2024 10:00:00 +0000

Most lapel pins are ornamental. Some are used to signal political or social affiliations. This one was going to change the world.

When AI hardware startup Humane let me into its San Francisco headquarters in November 2023 to show off its new AI Pin, the hype had been building for months. Companies across the tech ecosystem had been hinting at plans to unveil new AI-driven gadgets in the coming year, but none was more prominent than Humane. Led by former Apple executive Imran Chaudhri, the company had raised $230 million at an $850 million valuation. As I studied the candy-colored Pins, arranged across tables like the product array at an Apple Store, the team described the capabilities of the new wearable, a post-iPhone device that could beam lasers onto your hand. I realized the company was heading for a crash when the feature they focused on the most was . . . asking the Pin for the weather.

The Pin was slow, screenless, and expensive—$699, plus a $24 monthly subscription. According to reports, by mid-2024, Humane had moved only a few thousand units, with returns outpacing sales. And the Pin wasn’t the year’s only AI gadget misfire. The Rabbit R1, a fluorescent orange, AI-enabled walkie-talkie (a collaboration by tech startup Rabbit and hypebeast hardware company Teenage Engineering), notched 100,000 units in preorders by early January. But when it shipped in April, reviewers noted that despite its playfully flashy exterior, R1’s baseline AI tools, such as a smart camera, featured barely any intelligence. Many wondered why this device needed to exist when an app would do and, by September, only about 5,000 people were still using their Rabbit R1s at any given time. And then there’s the Friend pendant, which promised to record every conversation in your life and send you friendly texts in response. While the $99 product is yet to launch, the company spent $1.8 million of its initial $2.5 million in funding to acquire the domain name friend.com. The internet roasted the company for this Pets.com-style expenditure after its website went live this past July.

What was supposed to have been the year of AI hardware has instead served as an emphatic reminder of how far we are from a major breakthrough.

Maybe our expectations have just been too high. Since computers came into our lives, there have really only been three paradigm-shifting breakthroughs in how we interact with them, iPhone designer Jony Ive told Fast Company last year: After the original command line, we got the graphical user interface (the desktop with all of its clickable icons and folders, and of course the mouse), then voice (Alexa, Siri), and finally multitouch (the ability to tap a screen and to gesture to receive haptic feedback). Ive said that to him the promise, and excitement, of building new AI hardware was that it might introduce a brand-new fourth way to interact with digital devices.

But we’ve yet to see any revolutionary new interactions from AI hardware. And in many ways, these first-wave inventions seem to ignore the fact that hardware infused with AI has already been popular for years.

In the last year, Americans spent $91 million on smart displays, $1.5 billion on streaming audio speakers, and $8.8 billion on stereo headphones, according to consumer insight company Circana. Most of these devices allow you to talk to an assistant or perform some level of intelligent task with only your voice. Then, of course, we have the smartphone itself, with an operating system built upon all sorts of integrated AI tools, such as the ability to analyze anything you say, improve or search the photographs you take, and even connect you directly to ChatGPT via an app.

[Illustration: Kyle Ellingson]

“All hardware includes AI in it right now,” said Rabbit CEO Jesse Lyu in September on stage at Fast Company’s Innovation Festival. “If you look at the new iPhone, that’s all about Apple Intelligence [Apple’s term for new, assistive AI]. I think for the foreseeable future, all the hardware will become AI-powered hardware in some form.”

But that hasn’t stopped companies, including Lyu’s, from trying to invent new devices that harness AI in exciting ways. Sources tell me that Apple, Google, and Samsung are all working on dedicated AI hardware to launch in the next few years, and startups are racing to beat them. Yet in this urgency, the upstarts and tech giants alike can easily lose sight of the fact that they are competing not just with the gadgets of tomorrow but with every piece of AI hardware that’s come before.

In other words, they can overlook all of the stuff we do on our laptops and phones already. Microsoft’s biggest AI move this year has been to put its Copilot AI into Windows laptops. Whether we’re typing a prompt or talking to a ScarJo impersonator on ChatGPT, our laptops and phones already afford us a near-constant state of interaction with AI.

In many ways, it feels like we’re back in the gadget era of the mid-aughts, when experimental products like the Sony Rolly played MP3s while spinning around the living room. What’s different today is that both the marketing and aesthetics of consumer electronics have become so sophisticated that even a forgettable object can appear enticing at first glance: The Rabbit R1 looks super cool; it took users a moment to realize it doesn’t do anything all that new or exciting.

If cellphones are any indicator of the time required to develop truly breakthrough gadgets, we can expect a lot of trial and error as AI hardware tries to find its footing. Today, it’s easy to forget that early handhelds came in a wild variety of forms, evolving from those bricks with antennae you sometimes catch Michael Douglas yelling into during a movie from the ’80s to the compact flip phones and sliders that packed a full QWERTY keyboard behind their covers. These designs only coalesced into a new standard with the iPhone, when the hardware itself made way for significant new UX: the touchscreen display that could shape-shift with our needs.

Now designers and developers are contending with a significant new challenge. Before modern AI, all our software was deterministic, meaning it was designed to guide users through a predetermined flow that was relatively easy to test and debug. But new AI is probabilistic, meaning it may give a slightly different answer every time. That means designing around chance. How we handle this moment is something that designers continue to debate: Can we still operate under established UX standards? Or do interfaces need to constantly change to adapt to information?

These are just a few of the questions the industry must resolve as it ventures toward AI hardware powered by augmented reality. Meta and Snap both continue to work on AR glasses, which float holographic images in the real world. Meta’s system includes a bracelet that reads the user’s neurological signals and enables interaction via pinches and taps. It seems that Meta’s ultimate goal is to erase the boundary between you and its AI.

AI is moving us toward the kind of environmentally aware computing that’s been the promise of the Internet of Things for the last quarter century. At the moment, we still feel far away from that vision. In a demo last May that went viral, Google revealed Project Astra, an always-watching AI camera on its smartphones that could summon an AI assistant to help a user who had lost their keys. But that’s really not much of an advance over what existing Airtags can do.

“We are stuck in this paradigm of AI as a companion, and everything we produce becomes another friend, another peer, another little assistant,” says Leonardo Giusti. His startup, Archetype, founded with Ivan Poupyrev—his former colleague at Google’s Advanced Technology and Projects group—has raised a $13 million seed round to build an AI model of our world. Working with sensor data that’s already available—the waveforms collected from microphones and gyroscopes—they can pull off some amazing feats, translating those signals to track people moving through a room, noting whether they are standing or sitting. Archetype believes it can build something that feels less like a friend and more like real-time intuition, possibly even capable of predicting waveforms that come next—perhaps foreseeing an accident on a job site as easily as Google currently auto-completes a sentence.

First-wave AI hardware has failed because it’s been a distraction. We’ve been focused on the objects at the expense of imagining the experience AI can create.

“The moment we give AI a physical form,” Giusti says, “we’re missing the opportunity to make it actually present in the world with us.”

In other words, as AI grows more complex, so will the challenge of wrestling the technology into any one device. In the meantime, the supercomputer in our pocket is already a pretty nifty piece of AI hardware.

Holiday Inn is getting a millennial makeover

Thu, 19 Dec 2024 10:00:00 +0000

Holiday Inn is modernizing, and travelers who favor mid-century modern furniture and wood slat walls will appreciate the new look.

The hotel chain is in the middle of an overhaul meant to elevate and standardize its interior design after finding that guests thought there was “a lot of inconsistency” in its interior spaces, says Meredith Moore, VP of global brand management for Holiday Inn’s parent company, InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG).

The makeover brings in pared-down furniture silhouettes in slate gray and toffee leather finishes, more reminiscent of the mid-century modern direct-to-consumer brand Article than what you might expect at your typical Holiday Inn.

The hotel chain also wants guests to experience the same look and feel no matter which Holiday Inn property they visit. “It was really important for us to get really prototypical and have a bit more of a consistent feeling overall,” Moore tells Fast Company, noting that guests today are “looking for a sense of familiarity.”

[Photo: Holiday Inn]

The refresh comes at a time when the company is doing well, relative to the industry. In its most recent earnings call, IHG’s CEO, Elie Maalouf, said the company hasn’t observed a slowdown that its competitors have seen in the U.S. domestic leisure market. The company says it’s experienced a 67% increase in room signings over last year across its portfolio of hotels, which includes brands like Kimpton and Crowne Plaza.

Midscale rooms are getting a more upscale look

The chain’s makeover includes a redesigned entry that brings the front desk, order counter, bar, and market to a central unit, and redesigned rooms with a “welcome zone” (made to feel like a home entryway) and decor that seems targeted squarely at millennial tastes.

Renderings of the updated guest rooms show modern modular couches, abstract art, and beds with wide headboards that feature wood-paneled treatments, sconce lighting, and floating shelves, giving the midscale accommodations a decidedly upscale look. Holiday Inn says the first hotels to feature all the design changes will open in the first half of 2025, and it expects 70% of hotels to be new or like new by the end of next year.

“It’s making sure that there’s the warmth in the experience, so it is about the details, it is about the decorative elements, the pillows, how plush something looks, the colors, the lighting, so a lot of it has to come together,” Moore says. Strong Wi-Fi and plenty of charging ports also top the priority list.

[Photo: Holiday Inn]

The redesign isn’t just for guests. As of 2023, franchises accounted for 72% of IHG’s hotel rooms. Moore says the hope is that the makeover will “not only appeal to the next-generation traveler, but also appeal to owners and investors so that they’re wanting to continue to grow with the brand.”

[Photo: Holiday Inn]

Other notable changes include a darker shade of green for the hotel’s signage (“before it was a little bit more in the limey space,” Moore says), and a more focused food menu. The chain’s survey of its food service and offerings revealed that just two items—burgers and wings—generate more than 40% of all dinner orders. “If you can get those two things right, you’re already satisfying about half of your diners,” Moore says.

With its spiffed-up design, more sophisticated signage, and a focus on the little things—from pillows and wood paneling to Wi-Fi and wings—Holiday Inn is making a calculated bet that it can appeal to a new generation of travelers with an elevated look and a standardized experience, no matter which location they check into.

Home Heating Tips and Tricks That Save You Money

Thu, 19 Dec 2024 06:20:53 +0000

Unless you are signed up for an average monthly payment plan, your energy bills can be a surprise–even a shock. Every little bit you can save on heating costs lowers those bills. Use these tips and tricks to save money without being uncomfortable.

Get An Energy Audit

An energy audit tells you where the house is losing heat and which areas should be prioritized to save heat and add comfort. There is no sense in adding attic insulation when you should be insulating rim joists instead. The average cost of a home energy audit is about $425.00. (Government rebates may reduce the cost.) Audits only need to be done once.

Adjust Your Thermostat

Turning the thermostat down 7 – 10 degrees Fahrenheit when no one is home can save up to 10% on heating bills. Lower the temperature by the same amount when you are sleeping. Add another blanket to the beds. (Keep the temperature above 55 degrees F. to prevent frozen pipes and frost on the windows.)

Programmable Thermostat

Upgrading to a programmable thermostat saves energy. It also saves you from having to remember to adjust your old thermostat. Smart thermostats can be programmed to your lifestyle, sleeping patterns, work, and holiday schedule.

Seal Your Windows and Doors

Your walls should have an R-value of R-12 or R-20. Double-glazed windows are R-2. And they often leak. Fix drafty windows with weatherstrip, caulking, and foam insulation. Storm windows are worth installing to keep the heat in. Even inexpensive plastic film prevents heat loss.

A ⅛” gap below your exterior door loses as much heat as a 2” hole in the wall. Adjust or replace your door sweep. Place a rolled-up towel or door draft stopper against it to prevent heat loss. Adjust the door to seal properly against the weatherstrip. Replace damaged weatherstrip.

Space Heaters

Space heaters are an excellent way to have a warm cozy area in a room while keeping the whole house temperature lower. Trying to heat an entire room with a space heater is not cost-efficient. Use them under home office desks, to heat a small reading area, or to warm a bathroom before use. Follow all space heater safety tips this winter. They can be dangerous–especially older heaters that may lack safety features like timers and auto shut-off if they tip over.

Fireplaces

Electric and gas fireplaces are very efficient and add a significant amount of heat to the room. Wood fireplaces may actually cool the house by drawing warm interior air to fuel the flames and sending it up the chimney. Close any fireplace doors after the burn to prevent warm air from escaping up the chimney. Close the flue when the fireplace is not in use.

Use Fans

Reverse ceiling fans to mix the warm air that accumulates near the ceiling with cooler air to keep room temperatures constant. This is especially effective in homes with vaulted ceilings where warm air gathers. Small quiet fans located in rooms without ceiling fans achieve a similar effect.

Don’t Close Vents and Doors

Shutting off vents and closing doors to only heat parts of the house usually increases energy consumption. Furnace size is calculated to heat the entire house. Closing doors and vents alters the pressure balance and forces the furnace to work longer and harder.

More Easy Tips and Tricks

Include these easy inexpensive tips in your heat-saving arsenal.

Curtains. Open curtains during the day so solar gain warms the house. Close them at night to preserve the heat.
Furniture. Do not place furniture over or in front of vents, return air ducts, or any heat source. Keep rugs off floor vents.
Bathroom and Kitchen Fans. Ventilation fans should run for 20 – 30 minutes to remove humidity. Installing a timer switch is an effective way to control run time.
Furnace Filters. Dirty filters make the furnace work harder and run longer. Change them regularly.
Attic Access. Ensure it has effective weatherstrip and remains tightly closed.
Seal Cracks and Gaps. Seal all cracks, gaps, and wall penetrations to reduce heat loss.
Insulate Heating Ducts. Ducting that passes through crawl spaces and attics should be insulated to prevent heat loss.
Inspect Heating Systems. Have your furnace inspected yearly to maintain efficient operation.

The post Home Heating Tips and Tricks That Save You Money appeared first on Homedit.

DIY Natural Orange Christmas Ornaments

Wed, 18 Dec 2024 20:18:39 +0000

Every year, I get a little too excited about decorating for Christmas. Not just the main tree in the living room – oh no, I have to decorate the smaller tree on my kitchen counter too. This year, I decided to take a different route and make natural ornaments with a mix of dried oranges, cinnamon sticks, and little rustic touches. The goal? A cozy kitchen filled with holiday vibes and that amazing smell of citrus and spice. Spoiler: I absolutely nailed it. Why Go Natural for Christmas Decor? Honestly, I love the idea of sustainable and budget-friendly decor. Plus, natural materials add warmth that store-bought plastic ornaments just can’t pull off. And, okay – it’s trendy too. Pinterest made me do it. The kitchen tree especially deserved something charming, simple, and scented. Using dried oranges, cinnamon sticks, and a few other bits and bobs I had lying around, I ended up making ornaments that scream rustic Christmas magic without spending a ton. What I Used 2 fresh oranges (for drying – more on that in a second) Cinnamon sticks Star anise (those little spice stars look gorgeous) Sprigs of greenery (just clip a few from your tree or grab a cheap garland) Wooden beads (optional, but they...

The post DIY Natural Orange Christmas Ornaments appeared first on Shelterness.

Why Boston’s plan to renovate White Stadium is controversial

Wed, 18 Dec 2024 19:30:00 +0000

As the quarterback for the storied Boston Latin Academy, Jack Shapiro has long relished playing some of his high school games at historic White Stadium.

But this season, the closest Shapiro will get to the 75-year-old stadium is a grassy practice field in the shadows of the 10,000-seat facility. The stadium gates are padlocked most days in anticipation of the dilapidated stadium being renovated. In its place will be a glistening, $200 million sports facility for Boston’s new professional women’s soccer team, BOS Nation FC, starting in 2026.

No home for high school football?

“We’re all a little disappointed not to have our home this year,” said Shapiro, quarterback and safety for the high school team which was forced to play its home games in West Roxbury, a 45-minute bus ride from school. The city’s school system will have access to the new facility, but Boston Latin and another school will play elsewhere.

The team said it is still hopeful of playing some games at the new stadium but that remains far from certain.

The city has said that Latin and another high school team, which rely on White Stadium for home games, will have to play elsewhere due to potential damage to the playing surface from cleats. But they have promised that all city schools could play end-of-season games, including championship games, there.

“The biggest worry is that we will be blocked out,” the team’s coach, Rocco Zizza, said as he stood outside the stadium. “In many ways, what is behind us will not only be a monument for high school football but also maybe a tombstone.”

Will Boston lose critical green space?

Shapiro and his team are part of the growing opposition to the joint venture that includes preservationists, environmentalists and neighborhood activists.
Many opponents fear the public would lose access to the stadium, and the critical green space where it sits, if the city teams up with a corporate entity. Supporters argue their plan is the best hope to bringing women’s professional soccer to Boston and providing new equipment and facilities for the city’s cash-strapped school system.

Surrounded by some of the most diverse and impoverished neighborhoods, White Stadium has long been a refuge for residents to take morning walks, play high school sports, see concerts, attend rallies or send their children to summer camps. The nearly 530-acre (214.48-hectare) Franklin Park, which is also home to the Franklin Park Zoo, is part of the Frederick Law Olmsted’s Emerald Necklace system of parks in the city.

Louis Elisa, who lives across the street from the park and is party to the lawsuit attempting to halt the project, said the project will cause “enormous harm to the environment and the community.”

The lawsuit argues the process to approve the project was rushed without adequate community input and violates the state constitution by transferring public land for a private use. Opponents also argue the thousands of fans attending BOS Nation FC games would overwhelm the park and cause widespread traffic and noise problems to nearby neighborhoods.

Instead, they are pushing for repairing the stadium for students at a cost of less than $20 million.

“The changes that they want to make is going to destroy the antiquities of the park, going to change the character of the park,” said Elisa, president of the Garrison-Trotter Neighborhood Association.

Women’s soccer in the heart of the city

Supporters, led by Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, argue the partnership is the only way to fund much-needed renovations and would bring positive change to the neighborhood and the students who rely on facility. Repeated efforts in recent decades to repair the stadium have faltered over a lack of funds, design concerns and neighborhood opposition.

The stadium will be controlled by the city’s schools but the cost of operating and maintaining it will be the team’s responsibility.

“The stadium has been in bad need of repairs and renovation for a very long time. You can see the track is crumbling, the facilities aren’t up to state standards. Our young people deserve better,” Wu said, adding that the project aligns with the purpose of the park which has areas of urban wilds meant for quiet enjoyment and other parts like the stadium that “were meant to draw people in.”

“This will revitalize the mission that we’ve always had for White Stadium to be a hub for our young people, for our student athletes and the community around them,” she continued.

A state-of-the-art stadium for students

Jennifer Epstein, the controlling owner of the team which will play in the National Women’s Soccer League, said the stadium project allows for the team to “play in the heart of the city” and forge a closer ties to the school system and the community.

She estimated the new stadium will offer tens of thousands of students three times more programming than they get now, and double the access for the community. It would also be one of the few stadiums built specifically for professional women’s soccer — the New England Revolution, the men’s team, is moving forward on a new Boston-based facility of their own.

“This public-private-community partnership is really exciting and it’s going to turn White Stadium into a top tier professional stadium,” Epstein said. “It will be a real thrill for everyone to be there.”

The debate over the stadium has played out at scores of meeting and hundreds of conversations over the past 17 months. So far, supporters have won every round of the permitting process and the city is hoping to sign a lease in the coming weeks and for demolition to start soon after.

As stadium costs grow, lawsuit looms

But lately, supporters have run into unexpected challenges.

Wu acknowledged this week that the city’s price tag for the renovation — the cost are being split evenly between the team and the city — has nearly doubled to $91 million due to design changes and rising construction costs.

On Tuesday, Boston City Councilor Ed Flynn came out against the proposal, citing the growing costs. Another council member, Erin Murphy, plans to request a hearing on the stadium proposal.

“We should cancel this proposal immediately and work together with residents and stakeholders across the city to provide the best option not only for our city and supporting a professional women’s soccer team, but one that incorporates the voice of our residents and student athletes as well,” Flynn said in a statement.

Time is also an issue, with supporters warning in court documents that any delays to the March trial on the lawsuit puts the project at risk. Supporters are optimistic the lawsuit will eventually be dismissed.

The team is also seeking input on the team name after its “Too Many Balls” marketing campaign launched in October was criticized as transphobic. In a blog post, the team said it has launched a process to “seek out, listen to, and reflect on input about our team name.”

Opponents, who say they want a professional women’s team but not in Franklin Park, nevertheless are relishing the latest bout of bad publicity.

“We are more confident than ever that Franklin Park will be protected from their scheme to turn this historic parkland into a colossal sports and entertainment complex.” Renee Stacy Welsh, a member of the Franklin Park Defenders, which opposes the project, said in a statement.

—Michael Casey, Associated Press

8 Of Australia’s Most Stunning Private Pools

Wed, 18 Dec 2024 19:00:58 +0000

8 Of Australia’s Most Stunning Private Pools

Architecture

by Amelia Barnes

Honeysuckle House designed by Planned Living Architects and Plume Studio. Photography – Derek Swalwell. Styling – Natalie James

Off form concrete and blackbutt timber surround the pool. Photo – Derek Swalwell. Styling – Natalie James

Fences blend in with the surrounding woodland to extend the feel of the ‘boundless’ garden. Photo – Derek Swalwell. Styling – Natalie James

There’s a ‘boundless’ quality to this residential pool, which extends to native grassy woodland surrounding its Shoreham block, located on a former campsite.

The success of the Mornington Peninsula pool lies in its use of decking materials (off form concrete and blackbutt timber), pool colour (a refreshing greenish-blue), new native landscaping, and fences that blend in with the surrounding woodland.

Key plants include feather reed grass, which works to blur the site’s boundaries, and Russian sage that adds colour and spontaneity.

See more of Honeysuckle House designed by Planned Living Architects and Plume Studio.

A concrete plunge pool is a striking addition to any inner-city garden.

One of the best belongs to Curious Practice director Warren Haasnoot, who engaged Wattlebird to create the garden to accompany his recently-renovated Newcastle home.

The landscaping comes right up to the house, giving the illusion it’s always been there, and creating a similar feel to stumbling upon a watering hole in nature.

New native planting will increasingly shrouds the new pool with colour and greenery as it establishes.

See more of Aru House by Curious Practice and Wattlebird.

Kiamba Valley Farmhouse by Aspect Architecture and LatStudios. Photo – Andy Macpherson. Styling – Trestle Studio

This farmhouse on the Sunshine Coast designed by Aspect Architecture has the feeling of an international tropical resort thanks to its sweeping deck and sparkling outdoor pool — part of the landscaping by LatStudios.

The cohesive and liberal use of blackbutt timber throughout the newly-built property lessens its visual impact, allowing the house and pool to sit within, and not on, the landscape.

Sitting in the pool, one can appreciate the property’s towering trees on one side, and the remarkable house on the other, which appears especially magical at night when warmly lit from within.

See more of Kiamba Valley Farmhouse by Aspect Architecture and LatStudios.

Tim and Sarah Lincoln’s Donvale garden, designed with Plume Studio. Photo – Amelia Stanwix

The gleaming backyard pool is perfectly in keeping with its accompanying Tuscan-inspired house. Photo – Amelia Stanwix

This Donvale, Melbourne garden has been over 10 years in the making by the owners, Tim and Sarah Lincoln, in collaboration with Plume Studio and numerous other contractors.

One of the highlights is the gleaming backyard pool — perfectly in keeping with its accompanying Tuscan-inspired house.

A combination of timber decking and stone pavers around the pool adds an earthy feel to the landscape, complemented by silver birches, oak trees, Japanese maples, crepe myrtles, forest pansies, native shrubs, Boston ivy, and vegetable patches.

See more of Tim and Sarah Lincoln’s Donvale garden.

Kimberley Wiedermann’s Byron Shire family estate. Photo – Caitlin Mills. Editorial styling – Annie Portelli

Interior designer and stylist Kimberley Wiedermann lives on 1.8 acres of lush tropical gardens shared with her sister and parents in Coopers Shoot, located just outside Byron Bay.

Together, the family have carved out a private slice of paradise, including their three houses and a communal 15-metre pool used year-round.

Mature trees, stone pathways, grassy zones, play areas, and firepits complete the landscaping by Fig Landscapes on this breathtaking property.

See more of Kimberley Wiedermann’s family estate.

Wheatland by Plume Studio. Photo – Derek Swalwell

In a move reminiscent of a natural pond, the small pool appears almost ‘tucked into’ the Malvern garden. Photo – Derek Swalwell.

Plume Studio have worked their magic once again, this time creating a landscape full of colour, texture and seasonality on a small inner-city Melbourne garden.

In a move reminiscent of a natural pond, the small pool appears almost ‘tucked into’ the Malvern garden due to the surrounding planting of Dahlia cafe au lait and Anemone japonica (Japanese thimbleweed) flowers, positioned to catch the viewers’ line of sight.

An integrated ledge on the white brick wall behind the pool is further shrouded in greenery, bringing a softness to the sun-drenched and contemporary outdoor space.

See more of Wheatland by Plume Studio.

Wetlands House by Wolveridge Architects and Sam Cox Landscape. Photo – Derek Swalwell . Styling – Jess Kneebone

A wetland replaces a demolished tennis court, introducing a natural swimming pool by Natural Swimming Pools Australia that flows into a 350 square metre pond. Photo – Derek Swalwell . Styling – Jess Kneebone

A 10-acre Mornington Peninsula property features a new house by Wolveridge Architects and wetland by Sam Cox Landscape.

The wetland replaces a demolished tennis court, introducing a natural swimming pool by Natural Swimming Pools Australia that flows into a 350 square metre pond.

Granite boulders are interspersed throughout the site to blur boundaries and make levels and transitions appear organic.

Natural swimming pools are a regular feature signature in Sam Cox’s projects for their look, feel, and minimal upkeep with natural filtration.

See more of Wetlands House by Wolveridge Architects and Sam Cox Landscape.

Somers Beach House by Wellard Architects. Photo – Derek Swalwell

The pool appreciates views to an existing banksia tree on one side, and landscaping by Fiona Brockoff on the other, with a shelter above to shield users from the western sun. Photo – Derek Swalwell

Whether you’re looking out to or sitting in this Mornington Peninsula pool, the view is remarkable.

The spectacular lap pool is located off the upper level of the Somers home, designed by Wellard Architects, and runs the full length of the building to introduce calming water views and shadow play throughout the interiors.

The pool itself appreciates views to an existing banksia tree on one side, and landscaping by Fiona Brockoff on the other, with a shelter above to shield users from the western sun.

Swimming in this pool feels like sitting within the treetop canopy, with the

The world’s strongest crane can lift 5 airplanes. And now it’s fully electric

Wed, 18 Dec 2024 17:02:11 +0000

The Mammoet SK6,000 crane, the world’s strongest land-based crane, is now fully electric. According to the Dutch manufacturer, the new crane offers zero-emission capability and reduced noise pollution, plus it enhances project safety and cleanliness by utilizing grid power, batteries, or hydrogen generators—all while still being able to lift 3,000 tons (the equivalent of five fully loaded Airbus 380 passenger airplanes) up to 650 feet, just like its fossil fuel counterpart.

The massive crane is also the latest example of a long trend of heavy mechanical beasts that are getting electrified. But these traditionally polluting industries are not necessarily doing it out of love for their workers, fear of Greta Thunberg’s rage, or to save nature. For these companies, there’s a better reason than all that: mo-mo-money. They save on fuel (as electricity can be free or much cheaper than fossil fuels), maintenance costs (because electric motors are easier to keep up and running and have less failure rates), and can do things faster (because those motors offer more torque than their diesel counterparts). And that’s not bad at all, given the clear benefit of decarbonization for all of humanity.

[Image: Mammoet]

The SK6,000 operates directly from grid power, supported by medium-voltage networks commonly available in heavy industry and port shore power connections. For remote sites, or those with unstable power supply, it relies on two battery boxes delivering a combined 1,200 kWh, roughly the equivalent to the power consumption of an average U.S. household over 40 days. Hydrogen generators—which transform that element into electricity using fuel cells that produce electricity and water vapor—are another option that enables the SK6,000 to function even without significant infrastructure.

In a press release, the company says that electrifying the SK6,000 also enhances the crane’s operational flexibility. The battery packs come in standard 20-foot shipping container formats, which Mammoet says are easy to transport anywhere using existing infrastructure. Testing showed minimal impact on site operations, with the connection process completed during a single day shift while reconfiguring test weights. Niek Bezuijen, global sustainability adviser, points out that “electrification isn’t a matter for the future of heavy lifting—it is needed now,” adding that this innovation allows customers to “lead on safety, efficiency, sustainability, and cost.”

[Image: Mammoet]

The heavy industry shift to electrification

Other giant machinery is also undergoing electrification. Australian mining corporation Fortescue Metals Group introduced the Liebherr R 9400 E a year ago. The 400-ton electric excavator operates entirely on renewable energy. It’s connected to a dedicated on-site solar power plant that basically delivers free energy to the excavator through a 1.24-mile high-voltage cable. The move is not only about saving money on fuel: According to Fortescue, the excavator’s electric motors are exceptionally efficient and offer greater power than diesel-powered engines, which translates into more production. The mining giant claims that the R 9400 E set a record during its initial three-month test period of partial capacity operation, removing 1 million tons of material on-site.

The test success led the company to order two more units last April; it plans to replace its entire fleet of diesel excavators, eliminating 25 million gallons of diesel consumption annually, the equivalent of removing 250,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year. It also offers more operational time and is more reliable, so the total cost of ownership is a fraction of its internal-combustion counterpart.

This follows Fortescue’s broader electrification efforts, which have extended to its fleet of haul trucks and other heavy machinery. The Liebherr T 264 battery-electric truck, with a 240-ton capacity, and the PR 776 electric mining dozer are among 475 emissions-free machines planned under a $2.8 billion partnership with Liebherr. “These electric trucks are more reliable and productive than diesel trucks and feature rapid charging technology adapted from Formula E,” says Andrew Forrest, Fortescue’s executive chairman, noting that the transition will save the company $300 million to $400 million annually in fuel costs for the trucks alone.

Fortescue is just one of many mining companies embracing electrification as a practical and economical solution to expensive and polluting fossil fuel. Electrifying mobile fleets in the global iron ore industry could add 20 to 30 terawatt-hours of electricity demand, according to a McKinsey report. To satisfy this demand, companies like Caterpillar, Komatsu, and Liebherr are introducing battery and hydrogen fuel cell-powered equipment, like Caterpillar’s 793 battery-electric truck and Komatsu’s hydrogen fuel cell-powered 930E mining truck.

And the technology is not limited to open mines. In underground mining, Caterpillar’s R1700 XE battery-electric loader improves air quality and reduces ventilation costs.

[Image: Mammoet]

Broad industry adoption

Operational efficiency and cost savings drive these investments. McKinsey’s report says that electrified equipment reduces energy costs by up to 70% and maintenance costs by 30%. Electric motors also offer greater productivity because they provide instant torque. This means they can deliver full twisting power right away, unlike a diesel engine that builds up torque gradually.

The result is that machines can lift things faster—and with greater precision—and vehicles can go up or down ramps with steeper angles with ease. This also allows engineers to design shorter ramps, thus cutting the travel time between mine levels. By reducing the time needed for each operation and allowing for more efficient movement, companies can boost output significantly while lowering overall operational costs.

Industries beyond mining are also adopting electrification to enhance sustainability and cost-efficiency. In construction, JCB’s hydrogen-powered 220X excavator offers zero-emission operation without compromising power and performance, while Caterpillar’s D11 XE dozer leverages an electric drive system for heavy-duty tasks. SANY’s hydrogen fuel cell construction trucks achieve more than 500 kilometers of range with zero tailpipe emissions. And in agriculture, HEVI Corp.’s all-electric heavy equipment reduces operational noise and emissions, making it suitable for urban and rural applications.

Process heating in industrial manufacturing—a major energy consumer—is shifting to electric boilers and heat pumps powered by renewable energy, slashing fuel costs while cutting greenhouse gas emissions. The shipping and steel manufacturing industries are also embracing electrification, according to an IBM report.

[Image: Mammoet]

It’ll be okay

But it’s not all wine and roses for the electrification of heavy industries. Challenges include the high up-front costs of new or modified vehicles, along with the corresponding infrastructure like solar power plants or industrial hydrogen cells, plus the current technological limitations of batteries. The former can be offset by the savings on fossil fuels, higher productivity, longer operation times, and lower cost of ownership. But the batteries can be challenging. Modern battery technologies, like ABB’s eMine FastCharge system, address some of these issues by minimizing downtime.

The main problem with batteries is in their manufacturing costs. While the price of lithium-ion batteries dropped 82% in the past decade, fluctuating prices of critical minerals like lithium present risks for mine electrification projects, according to a report by research group State of Play.

China’s dominance in the supply chain for key battery materials like lithium and cobalt, plus its manufacturing capabilities, represents a significant risk for the electrification of these industries and the world as a whole. China controls 60% of the world’s lithium extraction, 77% of the manufacturing of battery cells, and 60% of the manufacturing of their components.

In Congo, where 70% of the world’s cobalt is extracted, Chinese companies control 80% of the production. Beijing can, at any time, cut access to these key elements. In fact, it is already preparing to do exactly that. To signal its power—which the country has cultivated over the past few decades by investing heavily in developing countries that control the mining of crucial materials—China recently banned the export of antimony and other key elements following the U.S. ban on high-bandwidth memory to the Asian country. The price of antimony immediately surged 40%.

As Andrew Barron—professor of low-carbon energy and environment at the University of Swansea and holder of the Charles W. Duncan Jr. Foundation’s chemistry chair at Rice University—told me in a video interview, “China has already won the war of materials.” Its virtual monopoly on lithium and rare earth materials opens a path to the collapse of these industries and the economy in a few decades.

Barron, an engineer and inventor who received the World Materials Award for his method of making the mass production of solar panels cheaper, says China has essentially monopolized the production of batteries and all the materials necessary for electronics and renewable energies. He says it’s crucial for the West to break from these monopolies so the electrification of heavy industries can continue over the long run.

The way to avoid China’s stronghold could be to find new sources of material, diplomacy, or, as Barron reminds me, a breakthrough technological development. He recalls then-President John F. Kennedy’s 1962 moon speech at the Rice University soccer stadium and announced that by the end of the decade the U.S. would put a man on the moon. “All aerospace companies of the time said ‘How are we going to do it?’ They had no idea,” Barron says. “But during that seven-year period, they got to put a man on the moon.” Of course, that led to the biggest technological revolution in history and an unprecedented wave of engineers and scientists. The same can happen now.

I’m sure these companies will work tirelessly to make it happen and complete the transition to an all-electrical future. And yes, you can call me a cynic when I say that they won’t save the planet because it’s something good but because, as demonstrated by all the examples above, it will be a huge win for their bottom line.

Best Old-School Design Solutions Spotted in 2024

Wed, 18 Dec 2024 16:11:52 +0000

Everyone's talking about the future, AI, blah blah blah. But this year we saw plenty of cool design solutions from earlier decades and centuries.

Early mass production: In ancient China they developed Dragon Kilns, which run up hills. The fires at the bottom send heat throughout the entirety of the structure, enabling mass firings.

In Japan, these Inuyarai bamboo slats protect businesses from dog pee and rain splatter.

An old-school construction trick, used everywhere from the Swiss Alps to Japan, is using rocks to hold roofing in place.

Farmers in Scandinavia have a low-tech way to make it easier for a horse and cart to reach the second story of a barn.

Residents of rural Eastern Europe built these Vâltoare, a natural washing machine made by tapping into rivers.

Here's a 19th-century British design for a multi-tool.

Around the same time, the Shakers were building these retractable drying racks for their laundry facilities.

Doctors of the era, meanwhile, examined patients on one of these. Hopefully it was padded at some point.

Moving into the 20th century, we find this clever design for a no-tools-required-to-install hanging hook. The design persists today.

Architect Fabrizio Batoni designed these Art Deco faucets by reaching into manufacturer Mamoli's back catalog, circa 1938.

Industrial designer Bruno Munari designed this Cubo, a modernist ashtray, around 1954.

Image: Di Albertozanardo - CC BY-SA 4.0

Arne Jacobsen's Cylinda ashtray is another carcinogenic classic, circa late '50s/early '60s.

Legendary Italian industrial designer Enzo Mari designed his Formosa and Timor perpetual calendars in the 1960s. They're still in production.

Spanish industrial designer Rafael Marquina designed his classic no-drip oil cruet in 1961. It too is still in production.

While this might look like an ashtray, it's actually for storing jewelry. It's part of a 1970s line of ceramic objects by Italian industrial designer Robert Grigato.

This Wildo Fold-A-Cup, a classic Swedish design, first went into production in 1979. It's still on the market (with a slight materials update).

Here's to hoping we encounter more objects in 2025 that have withstood the test of time.

Jason Kelce’s new Garage Beer ad is an instant Christmas classic

Wed, 18 Dec 2024 14:52:20 +0000

Jason Kelce is singing a song that has only two words. For the latest Garage Beer commercial, the elder Kelce has crafted a unique ode to beer for the holidays.

When Kelce was in college, one of his buddies started to sing this song. Soon, anytime they would see each other in a bar, one of them would break out into “Oh beer, oh beer, oh beer” to the tune of “The First Noel.” They’d all quickly join in, and it became a tradition as a call to drink with your buddies.

“The holidays are here, and I thought it’d be really funny to do a very upscale version of it, with a legitimate choir singing that song,” says Kelce, dressed in a festive white Christmas sweater on a filming break last Friday afternoon. “It’s only one or two words, but I thought it would be funny and stupid, which is par for the course for us.”

Filming for this new spot began on Dec. 13th, and it dropped on Wednesday Dec. 18th. It’s Kelce and Garage Beer’s own version of what Ryan Reynolds has coined “fastvertising,” in which brands move quickly to get fresh ideas into culture as soon as possible. This approach isn’t an anomaly for Garage, though. It’s a part of the brand’s advertising strategy.

Move fast and make ads

In November, Garage Beer owner and president Andy Sauer was driving around the Pittsburgh area with Kelce, visiting stores and bars that were Garage customers. That’s when Kelce began outlining a new idea. Let’s just say it involved him channeling his inner Farmer Hoggett to sing “More Than Words,” re-creating a scene from the classic 1995 film Babe.

“That was very much something drawn on from, I’m watching Babe with my kids, and seeing Farmer Hoggett getting so excited singing to this pig,” says Kelce. “And I just thought, it’d be funny if he was singing to a beer.”

Two days later, it was done.

The creative agility is all by design. This is a brand that wants to make you feel a part of a fun-loving social club. Beer buddies just cracking a few. But as Garage expands its distribution from 30 states to 50 in January, the real trick will be to keep hold of its inner weirdo even as the brand goes big time.

Light and crafty

Even before the Kelce brothers supercharged global awareness of the Columbus, OH–based beer, Garage was one of the fastest growing beer brands in the U.S. Sauer bought the brand name from Braxton Brewing in 2021 and relaunched it in January 2023. It grew 252% in its first year to become the best-selling light craft beer in three states. Since the Kelces joined the team as investors in June, distribution has expanded from 12 to 30 states.

With 94% of light beer sold in the U.S. being produced by two brewers, Sauer says the goal was to make a quality product that had the independence and small-scale vibe of craft beer, with the drinkability of a major light beer. “When people picked up the brand, I wanted it to feel like that first beer they had with their dad in the garage,” says Sauer. “You had a category where the consumer from 2007 to 2022 had been buying craft, and craft kind of fell off a bit, and people were coming back to the domestic shop looking for a light beer, and they didn’t see anything independent. And so at that point, when interest in light beer is building again, we just happen to kind of show up at the right time.”

Garage Beer makes everything better